


Wicked Little Town.

by xofunghoul



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Babies, F/M, Flash Forward, Flashbacks, Gilmore Girls AU, M/M, MCR AU, Twins, parenting, small town AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-08-12 11:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7932685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/pseuds/xofunghoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small town in New Jersey where nothing much happens, Gerard Way runs his family's diner with his best firend Ray and he thinks his life is going nowhere special and is fine with it until Frank Iero, a young single dad of twin babies moves into town and shakes things up a little with his witts and big green eyes.<br/>**</p><p>~The lovely Helena May Hathaway is my beta and she is lovely and you should read everything she writes right now.~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Late dawns and early sunsets.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a small town AU kind of inspired by Gilmore Girls.  
> Enjoy!

It was 6 a.m. at a diner in a small town in New Jersey. Gerard had been in for about ten minutes now and was running through everything he did every morning, the first thing being putting on the coffee pot to have his, at least, third cup of the morning.

Gerard didn’t just work at the diner, but it’s not entirely his either, he was too young to own anything. The diner wasn’t his dream either. He was an artist. He knew this as true as the air he breathed, but after four years of art school, he didn’t know what he wanted in life so he came back home to figure it out.

Turns out it wasn’t a great idea. His parents decided to take some time off from running the diner and wanted to spend a few months in a sunnier place and get out of New Jersey. And since Gerard was free, they decided he should run it while they were away. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he didn’t know what that was either so he found no arguments nor the strength to oppose them. The good thing was that he didn’t hate it as much as he thought he might. He wasn’t that much of a people person, but this wasn’t the big city. Most people in town were old people and knew him since he was little. He used to draw them portraits in the corner of the diner on a sheet of his notebook or maybe on a napkin.

Inside the diner, Gerard had a clear view of the town park and some other local shops that were beginning to open and load up on produce for the day. He was standing there looking outside with his coffee in his hands to warm them since it was the middle of fall and it was very chilly. As he took a sip of the warm beverage, he shifted his eyes from the market to the bench in the park that was right across the diner, and something caught his attention. Or more of a someone.

There was a young guy sitting there with a pink suit case with sunflowers on it, a big green bag, a guitar case, and two babies. One in a stroller and one he had on his lap. The baby in the stroller seemed to be sleeping while the one on his lap seemed to be playing with the guy’s face.

Gerard was blatantly staring, thinking he wasn’t being noticed, but after a minute or so, the guy waved a hand at him and pointed to the diner’s door. Gerard made a gesture with his hand to tell him he could come in. He saw him put the baby down in the stroller and cross the street with his belongings, while Gerard wondered who this guy was. He wasn’t a local, he was sure of that. Not that he knew everyone in town, but at least he thought he saw everyone at least once and he hadn’t seen him. Besides, he was sure he knew everyone who was around his age, even though the guy looked younger than Gerard, it was still an age range he would know.

The little bell on the diner’s door rang as it opened and Gerard finally saw the guy up close with all his details. He was fairly short with short dark hair and a lock that fell on his face but it wasn’t too long. He had green eyes, and as Gerard could notice, he had some ink on him.

“If you’re not opened I can come in later,” The guy finally spoke. “I mean, it’s kinda cold outside and I’d rather not, but I will if you wanna.”

“Nonsense. Coffee?”

“You are an angel.”

Gerard made a little smirk and went behind the counter to grab a new mug, and poured some hot coffee in it. Meanwhile the guy sat at the bar of the diner with one of his babies on his lap, the other still asleep in the stroller. The baby immediately grabbed a menu and started to pound it on the bar, making a loud noise.

“Cherry, honey, no. Man you are quick. Shoulda named you Jessie.” He took the menu out of her hands and gave her a tiny rubber guitar which she took straight to her mouth and started chewing on.

“Wow…” Gerard handed him the coffee. He was surprised with the reference, but suddenly he didn’t really know how to properly form words or sentences.

“Oh, sorry, comic book reference.”

“Yeah, I know. Jesse Quick. That’s what I should have said instead of just ‘wow.’”

“Well, wow back at you.”

“I know my DC,” Gerard said. 

“I can see that. Oh, I’m Frank by the way.”

“Gerard.”

“Gerard… cool T-shirt too, Gerard.”

As Frank said this, Gerard looked down because for the life of him he couldn’t remember whatever T-shirt he picked up this morning without looking and threw on before his jean jacket.

“Morrissey fan too?” he says, after checking.

“I would marry him if I could, so back off.”

“I can’t fight you, you have a baby in your lap.” Gerard threw his hands up in the air with a side smile as he watched Frank sip on his coffee. “And who are the ladies?”

“This is an amazing coffee,” Frank said out loud, but mostly to himself, looking at his mug and thinking that he couldn’t quite remember when was the last time he had some decent coffee that didn’t taste like dirt water. “Oh… umm… this is Cherry.” He pointed to the baby on his lap. “And that one in the stroller is her twin sister Lily, and they are my kids.”

“Oh…” Gerard nodded, not knowing quite what to say because he looked really young to be a father and he didn’t want to pry or be rude.

“Yeah, I know. I look too hot to be a dad.”

“I was gonna say too young.”

“Oh… that’s what people always tell me, not hot, young. I keep mixing ‘em up.”

“And are you guys just passing through town?”

“Actually… nope. I was looking to stay here for a while,” Frank nodded, trying to look confident even though he was absolutely terrified. “I have no idea what the hell I’m gonna do since I’m not good at anything except playing guitar.”

Gerard took a sip of his own coffee as he watched Frank talk. Frank wasn’t looking at him, he was playing with his fingers on the edge of his mug while talking, so it was easier for Gerard to just look at him because he was a little bit fascinated. It wasn’t every day that something happened in town. Every day was pretty much exactly the same as the one before and it had been like that ever since Gerard could remember. Having an almost teenage father of twins full of tattoos was going to have the town buzzing for a while. He put down his mug and kept the conversation going, which wasn’t his strong suit, but he was curious.

“So umm… are you alone with your kids?”

“Yeah… yes,” Frank nodded, and looked up at Gerard. “Yes, I am. Mom is… better off.”

“A story for another time?”

“Definitely.”

“And do you have a place to stay?”

“Nope, not yet.”

Gerard leaned in a little and pointed outside the diner to the market across the park. “Do you see that market?”

Frank turned around to see where Gerard was pointing. “Yeah.”

“That’s Bob’s market. He owns half the town and he’s a lunatic, but he’ll know where you actually may be useful around town.”

“Ugh,” He turns back around and looks at Gerard. “Did I tell you, you are an angel?”

“I think you mentioned it.”

“You are.”

“Oh and Bob is very uptight and judgmental…” Gerard stepped back from the counter and from Frank. “So play the single dad card a lot.”

“I will. I have a single dad puppy face and all, you just watch it.”

Frank all of the sudden started to bat his eyelashes fast at Gerard and arched his mouth into a sad face, pouting. Gerard couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.

“I would consider giving you the keys to my car right now, you are good.”

“Thanks,” Franks smiled gallantly. “I’m gonna get going, but I have one last favor to ask you.”

“Sure.”

“Can you heat these up for me?” He reached for his green bag and grabbed two bottles with baby formula, handing them to Gerard. “Lily is gonna wake up hungry any second now.”

“Totally.” Gerard grabs them and head to the back.

“See? Angel”

As Frank gathered up his stuff and settled Cherry down next to her sister in the stroller, Gerard came back with the bottles ready and warm for the girls, and he handed them to Frank.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Oh it’s on the house.”

“No, tell me, how much the coffee is?”

“I couldn’t charge you even if I wanted to, we’re not opened yet.”

Frank gasped dramatically, exaggerating. “Okay, I’ll buy you a beer some time...” As he was saying this, Lily woke up and started crying. Cherry gave a glance at her sister and started to cry as well. “Or maybe in about fifteen years.” He said, looking at them and giving them their bottles.

“Hey, I’ll be here.”

Gerard shrugged and they both laughed quietly, then Frank exited the diner and Gerard watched him go to the market where he could just feel the disapproving eyes of Bob on Frank, but he turned soft when he saw the twins in the stroller.

Gerard smiled to himself as he gathered around what was on the counter and cleaned up. A few minutes later, he heard the little bell ring again and someone coming in. He peeped out from the kitchen and saw Ray, his best friend and the other cook, entering the diner with loud music coming from his earphones which he was in the process of removing.

“Morning! Hey, there’s a new kid in town, did you hear?” Ray said as he took off his backpack and jacket, throwing them away at a corner of the kitchen.

“Wow, hello. Yes, I saw. News travels fast.”

“I was just by Bob’s to get some toothpaste and saw him. Single dad. With twins.”

“Mom’s a no show.”

“Oh… you know something,” Ray said.

“I saw him freezing outside with those girls. I told him to get in and gave him a cup of coffee. We talked.”

“Okay… and why are you so happy?”

“What?! I’m not. I mean… I’m just me, I don’t know.”

“You are not you. You are like… smiling?”

“Oh fuck off!”

“No, really, like, stop. It’s weird.”

“Get to work. I’ll clean outside,” Gerard said.

“I didn’t even know you had teeth.”

“Fuck you, Ray!”

Gerard turned back and headed out of the kitchen to finish cleaning off the tables outside as he saw Frank pass outside the diner to the other side of town. He found himself smiling again. What was he happy about? It’s not like Frank was going to change his life or anything… right?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

It was about seven o’clock in the afternoon, the day went by as usual, almost as if Frank had never been to the diner earlier that day. It was just another Thursday. As Gerard was ready to close up for the day, he heard the bell ring as the diner’s door opened. Since he was looking away he dropped a careless, “We’re closed.”

“Oh, man. I cannot catch my luck with you today!”

Gerard quickly turned around, almost dropping the plastic bottle of ketchup he was filling. He saw Frank standing at the door, no bags this time, just his two girls, one on his shoulders and one in his arms.

“Hey! No, come on in.”

“Are you sure? I’ll just buy something from the market, it’s fine.”

“I still have the kitchen on, what are you having?”

“Umm well, after the day we’ve had we deserve some large fries, I think,” Frank put the girls down and sat at a table with both of them on his lap.

“Coming right up.”

Gerard snuck into the kitchen as he heard Frank talk to the girls and then sing something to them. The girls were laughing hysterically, and again, Gerard couldn’t help but smile to himself, luckily this time on his own.

A few minutes later he came outside with a plate full of fries and a soda, and put them on the table. The three of them screamed in unison and Gerard shook his head with a smile and turned around to clean something else that was probably already clean but he didn’t want to just stare. Frank was concentrated on his conversation with the girls and answering back to all the indistinguishable mumbling they were saying. As hard as Gerard tried, he couldn’t figure out a word, but Frank seemed to speak baby fluently.

“So… I talked to Bob,” Frank finally stopped his incoherent conversation with his children and addressed Gerard.

“How did that go?”

“Actually, amazingly. He offered me a house.”

“Really?” Gerard asked in disbelief.

“Rent free too, for a couple of months.”

“You are joking!”

“Nope. I have to restore it. It’s a little risky place, he said if I could fix it up he’d let me live there for free until I finish it, and then we’ll see.”

“That’s some good news! So, you have a roof now.”

“Partially. Probably will have to fix that up.”

“Do you have any skills to do that?”

“I do not, but I’m very handy,” Frank blinked at Gerard who tried to fight it with all his might, but he inevitably blushed.

“Umm… me neither, otherwise I would help you out.”

“It’s okay. I will figure it out eventually. I still need another job, though.”

“I’ll let you know if I know of anything.”

“Please do,” Frank nodded and added. “Hey, give me your phone.”

“Okay…?”

Gerard took his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and handed it to him. Frank grabbed it while hugging the twins and typed something on it, then gave it back.

“There,” Frank showed it to him as he handed it back and Gerard read ‘Frankie’ and his phone number. “If you know about a job or just wanna come hang out with bricks and dust…”

“I might take you up on that one.”

“Anytime! Well, we fought, we drank, we made our ancestors proud. We should get going. It’s past bedtime and my arms will be delighted to put them down for longer than thirty seconds. What do you say dudes? We go night night?” Both of the girls threw their arms up in the air and screamed “No!” in unison. “Oh yeah, or daddy is gonna pass out somewhere.”

Frank put some money on the table and stood up with both girls, who, after hearing the words “night night” got whiny and loud. Gerard walked him to the door and as he opened it for them standing right behind them, Cherry tried to throw herself into Gerard’s arms to the sound of complaining mumblings. Gerard grabbed her before she fell off of her dad’s arms and helped Frank get her back.

“No, baby, come on. We’ll be back tomorrow,” Frank said as he restored his balance with both girls in his arms. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.”

“She likes you, apparently. Bye, Gerard. Thank you! Say bye, girls.”

“Nooo!!” The girls screamed again.

“Bye!” Gerard answered back as he waved at them on their way out, and closed the door behind them.


	2. You could be a stock boy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank gets a job and makes innuendos.

The twins were napping in a cradle that Frank managed to get the day before at a second-hand store for a very cheap price he almost fought to death for. As for Frank, he sat on the floor of the living room contemplating the mess that house was and how much trouble he was in. He had his green bag near him on the floor, so he grabbed it and took from it a note pad and a pen and looked around. He started to make a list of the things he might need to fix the place up. 

He was going to start with the room next to the kitchen to try and make it a bedroom for him and the girls, but it would eventually be theirs alone and he would move up to the room upstairs which he didn’t need to think about right now.

After finishing up the list, he took another look around. He had no idea how he was going to fix this house up, but he knew the process would involve a lot of cursing, and crying, and probably blood. But he was ready for it all. 

He noticed some movement in the cradle and stood up from the floor to go check, and found Lily awake, sitting up, just looking around. 

“Hey Lils,” he said reaching for her and picking her up, then walking around with her. Lily hugged her dad’s head with her tiny arms, still a bit sleepy. “As soon as your sister gets up, we’re gonna go shopping for supplies, okay? And if you are both good maybe we’ll have a little dinner out.” 

Frank talked to his kid, rocking her in his arms. Lily didn’t make a sound, but Frank knew she understood and agreed. Lily was the most serious of the twins and he knew he didn’t have to worry about her. Cherry was the trouble maker of the two. It wasn’t even that bad but she usually made Lily tag along whenever she was angry and made them both bring hell on him. 

Frank took a deep breath as he walked around the kitchen with Lily in his arms. He was worried, so worried. He had been saving money like crazy for the past year and a half but he knew it wouldn’t last forever with two babies, and now that he had to fix up the house it was even harder, so he knew he had to get a job as soon as yesterday. 

The only job he had as a teenager was a stock boy at a supermarket, and he hated it, but he was good at bagging stuff. He was quick with his hands, but he thought that if he had to go through that again, it would kill him. He still would do it because he has two babies to take care of now, not just his own needs, but he really, really hoped there was something else out there for him. 

After a while, Cherry finally woke up and he readied both girls, put them in the stroller, and headed off to town. 

He passed by Way’s and waved Gerard’s way where he was taking an order and saw him through the window, waving back. Frank then went straight to the hardware store. He told Billy, the owner, about the house to see if he had any idea of what he might need. Billy of course knew Bob and after saying “that lunatic” as apparently everyone else did, he said he knew the house. 

“Bob had wanted to fix up that house before but never went through with it. He won’t sell it or rent it either so it’s weird he gave it to you, really.”

“Yeah?” Frank was confused because Bob didn’t seem like the type of man that would do something good out of the kindness of his heart alone. Maybe he would ask for something in return later on? Well, future Frank would have to deal with that then. 

“Anyway, your main focus should be downstairs for now, the bedroom and living room. The kitchen is actually fine. I gave it a look not long ago because he started there when he first wanted to fix the house up.”

“Oh good, that’s great,” Frank said.

“And there is some roof stuff to check out, but you’ll need a professional for that.”

“Well, what can I do for now and for cheap?”

“I think, cleaning the place up and start with the bedroom is your best choice,” Billy said, and it was exactly what Frank had in mind. He then gave Frank a bag with a few tools he’d need and anything necessary for his task for now and with great pain, Frank paid for it. 

“Oh, one last thing.” Frank added. “Do you know of a job or something?”

“No, sorry.”

“Oh well, thanks anyway.”

“No problem.”

Frank left the hardware store and walked around town with the girls. He didn’t want to go back to the house quite yet because everything about fixing that place would get very real, very quickly. 

In front of the town square there was a place, some sort of big barn looking place and he could hear some music coming from it. 

“Hey guys, let’s check that out,” he said to the girls as he crossed the street to the place. Once he was at the side walk, a big, heavy, wooden, sliding door opened and a loud, big woman was screaming to someone inside. She turned around with a long cigarette in her hands that she was smoking. When she turned around, she saw Frank standing there, staring.

“Oh honey, don’t look at me like that, you are way too young and you have babies.”

“I… no. No, no. I wasn’t…” Frank stuttered.

“You must be Frank.”

“I’m sorry… what?” Frank asked. He heard her fine but there was definitely something he was missing, he thought.

“Frank, the new guy!”

“I guess? I am Frank, yes and I guess I’m new too… I… I’m sorry, what is this place?”

“It’s Miss Gladys’ music studio. I’m Miss Gladys.”

“Oh… music studio, you say?”

“Yes. I’m a former Broadway star and an amazing singer,” Miss Gladys said, with a wink, all too confident. 

“Wow, that’s impressive. You know... actually I’m a musician too, I play guitar. I’m looking for a job.”

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, I’m not hiring right now.”

“Hey, Gladys, hold on…” said someone else, interrupting the conversation.

Frank saw a young guy, tall, very thin with great hair and a jaw line that could cut diamonds, approach them at the door. 

“Not that I was eavesdropping or anything but you know, we could use someone new. I’m teaching a million classes at once. I could focus more on teaching piano and cello and he could teach guitar” 

Gladys looked at the guy and then at Frank and his two babies in the stroller. She sighed and rolled her eyes because how could she say no now?

“You are a pain in my ass, Brendon… fine, be here tomorrow at four with your guitar,” Gladys said and left, waving a hand dismissively at them.

“Oh God, thank you for that man, I appreciate it.”

“Hey, no problem,” he reached for Frank’s hand to introduce himself. 

“Brendon,” Frank said before Brendon could.

“Yeah…”

“I’m…”

“Frank, I know.” Now it’s Brendon turn to interrupt him. 

“Apparently everyone does.”

“Small town, ya know?”

“Yeah, I’m getting the hang of it,” Frank said and nodded.

“Well, welcome to the studio. You’ll get harassed by old ladies and scolded by old men because you are too thin or your hair is too long, but it’s all in good fun. These people are the best.”

“It could be worse,” Frank said smiling at the twins. 

“You could be a stock boy.”

Frank looked up at Brendon, frowning. 

“Anyway. I gotta get back! It was cool meeting ya!” Brendon said and waved at Frank and the twins and went back inside the studio.

Frank thought that everyone was so weird in the town, but shook his head and turned around. He noticed that Way’s was just across the town square in front of Miss Gladys’. He thought himself lucky, and as a reward for getting a job, he decided to have dinner there and tell Gerard the good news. 

“Hi! Anywhere?” Frank asked, gesturing around once inside the diner, with a huge smile. Everyone turned to look at him, including Gerard.

“Hey… hi um… yeah, yes, yes anywhere is fine, yeah,” Gerard said a bit nervously and now everyone turned to look at him as funny as Frank was. “Hey, mind your own business! Back to your food okay?” he said to the room, offended and everyone just shrugged and carried on with their meals. 

As Frank sat down at a table near one of the windows, a massive amount of curls peeked out from the kitchen followed by the person those curls owned. 

“Hey, is that Frank?”

Gerard turned to Ray with a deadly stare, with his eyes as big as he could open them. Ray noticed, but didn’t mind. He cleaned his hands on a cloth that was hanging on his apron and came out from behind the counter to approach Frank. 

“Hi! I’m Ray, Gerard told me all about you. How are you, man? Settling in well?”

Gerard closed his eyes tight and hoped that he was dreaming. Or dead. 

“Oh, he did… huh?” Frank said.

“Yeah I saw you the day you first arrived, after you stopped by here and I mentioned it to him, and he told me he gave you coffee and stuff.”

“Yep, that happened.”

“So, Gerard said you play guitar!” Ray said excitedly. “What kind are you using right now?”

“Um… Ray?” Gerard interrupted. “People are waiting for their food?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Hey maybe we can catch up later!” 

“Sure,” Frank nodded and smiled as Ray left. He seemed like a nice guy, Frank thought. “Everyone knows me and everyone is so nice to me. That doesn’t happen to me often.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

Frank picked up one of the twins and Gerard turned around from where he was standing as he said, “Hey, hang on…”

Gerard walked towards the other side of the diner and came back with two wooden baby chairs, one blue and one green, and he placed them at Frank’s table. Frank simply looked in utter surprise. 

“These weren’t here before,” Frank said as a statement more than a question because he knew they weren’t. 

“No… I just got them actually.”

“For…?” Frank teased although he knew the answer.

“Babies, yeah.”

“Yeah… yeah of course.”

Frank smiled to himself, not looking at Gerard. He thought it was such a nice selfless gesture from him, so he didn’t want to put him on the spot and force him to explain himself, so he didn’t ask anything else and placed the twins on each chair.

“Well, thanks anyway. We’re gonna benefit a lot thanks to other babies so…”

“Yeah, no problem. I should have had them really. It was a long time coming.”

“Totally.”

Frank finally ordered some food for him and the girls. They were talking over dinner as usual, and as usual, Gerard wondered what he could possibly be talking about with two one and a half year-old babies, but every time he looked at Frank, which was more than he cared to admit, he saw this look on his face that said he was having the most interesting conversation in the history of human interactions. 

After a while the diner got less busy and Gerard was just cleaning up tables, so Frank stood up from his seat to talk to him without taking his eyes off the girls.

“Have a minute?” Frank said, approaching Gerard who left some plates on the counter and turned to him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“So, I got a job!”

“Really? That’s awesome! Where?” Gerard said.

“At Miss Gladys’? I’m gonna give guitar lessons there with this guy, Brendon. Well, not _with_ him with him but he teaches there too.”

“That nerd…” Gerard said dismissively.

“Actually he convinced Miss Gladys to hire me.”

“He did? How does he know you?”

“How does anyone know me here? I have no idea but everyone does,” Frank said.

“On the other hand, he works for Miss Gladys and she literally knows everything there is to know around here.” 

“So you don’t like Brendon?” Frank asked, without letting Gerard’s first remark about the guy pass.

“I guess he’s alright.” Gerard shrugged his own insecurities off.

“He seemed really cool.”

“I hear he’s got a huge ego,” Gerard said with that dismissive tone again, because he couldn’t help himself.

“Is that an innuendo for something?” Frank asked frowning. 

“What…? Oh, God no! Wait… I hope not. I never thought of that.”

“Wait. Hope not? It can’t hurt. Unless it’s like ridiculously huge, I guess that must be uncomfortable,” Frank rambled. 

“How did we end up talking about Brendon’s dick? Also, how can we stop?” Gerard asked a bit disgusted. 

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Anyways… congratulations! You are slowly building up a life here.”

“Yeah. It feels kinda nice,” Frank nods. “Everything’s thanks to you anyways.”

“Me?” Gerard asked.

“Well yeah, you were the first one to let me in and pointed me in the right direction.”

“Oh please. It was nothing.”

“You were kind, Gerard. Most people aren’t, sadly,” Frank said this remembering the times he’d been at the receiving end of disapproving looks because he was a single dad full of tattoos. But no one seemed to see that there, they just saw that Frank was a guy that needed help and everyone was happy to try their best to help him out. 

“Well… you are kinda nice to have around,” Gerard managed to get out of his mouth. He wasn’t good with words or feelings; he’d rather do things for people than say anything to them.

“I am?” Frank smiled.

“Yeah, you are. You know, and the girls too…”

As Gerard said this, Frank gave a look at them again and as Lily was kind of drifting off, Cherry was decorating her hair with macaroni. 

“No, Cherry! Come on, man.” 

Frank walked towards them and started pulling pasta out of Lily’s hair as he heard Gerard laughing. “Well I guess this is my cue. We should get going.”

As Frank said this, Cherry turned around in her chair and threw her arms towards Gerard while making noises. He assumed she was calling him so he got to her and picked her up. Cherry immediately started to play with Gerard’s face. 

“You don’t have to do that,” Frank said. He always assumed people picked his kids up out of pity or to make them shut up, especially Cherry. 

“I don’t mind. Besides I think she likes me,” Gerard managed to say through Cherry’s hands that were over his mouth. 

“Well, you are a natural, let me tell ya,” Frank said as he finished cleaning up Lily and putting her down in the stroller. 

Gerard smiled and walked towards Frank to help him put Cherry down too, against her wishes because she started complaining again. 

“You know you are doing something wrong as a parent when your kid’s first word is no, right?” Frank said once he got them both to settle down. 

“You are doing great.” 

“Thanks…” Frank said, unconvinced. “Well, we’re off. Hey, maybe you can come over some time? I’ll make some food. Well… ‘make.’ I’ll heat up something frozen for sure. I’m great at it.” 

“Oh… yeah sure. Or I can bring something.”

“No it’s okay, my treat, you feed me all the time, it’s my turn. Is Friday okay?” 

“Great, yeah. I’ll be there after I close here,” Gerard said and nodded. 

“Cool. See ya!” Frank waved and left Gerard and the diner behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update! Helena May Hathaway is now a beta on this story and she's helping me a lot since I'm not a native English speaker and she's giving me tips and is amazing and if you haven't read her fics you REALLY HAVE TO. NOW.  
> Hope you like the new chapter, I'm already working on the next so I won't take too long to update.


	3. She's the prettiest girl at the party.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray is spot on and Frank has a red face.

Friday finally came along and even though he would admit it to no one, Gerard was stupidly excited about that night. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he was so excited. He thought that maybe it was the fact that he was doing something different for once in a long time. The truth is he had been feeling a thrill ever since Frank arrived in town but Gerard was sure it was just that, something new and different. 

“Do you mind closing today?” Gerard popped his head in the kitchen to talk to Ray. “I’m going upstairs to change.”

“Sure, I’ll close. You’re gonna change?”

“Yeah. I’m going to Frank’s, remember?”

“I do. And you’re gonna change?”

“You just asked that twice, what am I missing?”

“I don’t know. It’s just… it’s weird? Like, you wouldn’t change if _we_ were going to hang out.” Ray knew this for a fact because they hung out all the time after work and Gerard has never been one to care about what he was wearing. 

“Oh, come on now, don’t tell me you’re jealous, Ray.”

“Far from it. Frank seems great, I’m glad you have a new friend.”

“So…?” Gerard asked, genuinely confused.

“You’re changing your clothes.”

“That’s a third time,” Gerard pointed out to him. 

“All I’m saying is, I would change my clothes if I was going out… on a date.” 

“Okay, now you’re just not making any sense. I’m gonna go now.”

Gerard dismissed Ray’s remark and left the kitchen to go to his little apartment above the dinner. 

He took a quick shower, trying really hard not to think about what Ray said, but it hit him while he was choosing which shirt to wear after he put on some jeans. Why did he care so much? 

He started panicking, pacing up and down the small apartment, his breathing coming in with short, choppy breaths and his stomach was doing this thing where it seemed to be flipping inside of him. Ray had to be wrong. He just _had_ to. Gerard wasn’t developing feelings towards Frank. He couldn’t be. He _just_ met him. Besides, when was the last time he liked someone? He couldn’t even remember and frankly he never really bothered to think about it. He was _fine_. But still, he was _choosing_ what to wear. Maybe he shouldn’t be going to Frank’s. 

“Okay, this is ridiculous.” He finally said out loud, to his conscience that wouldn’t shut up about it. 

“He is a friend and is someone that doesn’t really know me. This is totally normal. It doesn’t feel normal because you haven’t made a new friend in a million years so shut the fuck up about it already,” Gerard shouted to the empty apartment and turned around to look at himself in the mirror, and sighed. Luckily, he convinced himself enough to finally finish getting dress and actually leave the apartment. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When the bell rang at Frank’s house, he was sitting on the floor in the kitchen trying to put Lily in a t-shirt while Cherry was standing next to him with a marker, drawing on his face even though he told her not to about five million times. Now Frank had his face half covered in red ink. 

He stood up after he finished up with Lily and they both stared at him. He stared back and as he was about to go to the door, he hesitated about telling Cherry not to paint her sister’s face but he knew it was unlikely she would listen to him so he took the red marker out of Cherry’s hand altogether. 

Cherry pouted because she knew she had been caught but she didn’t make a fuss or anything. 

“I’ll be back in a second, please don’t burn down anything,” he said to both of them, but they all knew it was directed specifically at Cherry. 

Frank run to the door and opened it. “Quick, quick, come in!” he said and run back to the kitchen, making a gesture for Gerard to follow him. 

“Umm… hello to you too?” Gerard answered him as he closed the door behind him and followed Frank to the kitchen. 

“Ha!!” Frank screamed as he caught Cherry with another marker, purple this time, that he had no idea where she got from and she was going for Lily’s face. Cherry pouted again at her dad like he had ruined fun forever, but she lit up when she saw Gerard was walking behind Frank.

“What’s going on?” Gerard asked, and then saw Cherry throwing her little arms towards him. “Hey you!” he kneeled down in front of her and kissed the top of her and Lily’s heads.

“Well…” Frank started answering as he also sat on the floor and put Lily in his own lap. “I thought it’d be a good idea to buy them some markers and coloring books. Turns out, markers? Bad idea,” he said and pointed to his own face making an annoyed gesture. 

“Oh… it doesn’t look that bad actually,” Gerard said, looking at Frank as he slipped his hand into his pockets. He took two little boxes out of his pockets and showed them up to Frank. “Crayons are better though.” He handed the boxes to the girls. 

“Oh, that’s really smart,” Frank nodded at Gerard. “So, no water colors for a while either, right?”

“Probably not your best choice, no. Unless you want your house to become a giant Pollock, then go crazy, kid.” Frank laughed at Gerard’s artistic reference, and felt kind of proud of himself for actually getting it.

Gerard sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and sat Cherry on them, then took the crayons out of the box and one of the coloring books that were lying around. Gerard and Cherry picked up one crayon each and started coloring together. 

“I love coloring books, and I love that this is a superheroes one,” Gerard said.

“Oh yeah, Cherry loves those more than the princesses or animal ones. Lily loves the ones with animals, sometimes she just looks through them,” Frank was looking at Gerard coloring while saying this. “It seems like you know a thing or two about coloring.”

“I went to art school,” Gerard dropped a bit dryly. “You can tell because of my masterful coloring book skills.” 

“Oh yeah? How come you run a diner?” 

“Ah… it’s my parents’. Long story short, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college and kinda got stuck with it. It’s okay though. I actually like running the place. I get to um… meet people,” Gerard said, which wasn’t entirely true. Not that he wanted to lie to Frank, but the truth was that even though he always felt stuck, now he was actually kind of glad he about it, because he met Frank. 

He started to feel the weird stomach thing he was feeling at his apartment when he was getting himself reeled up about his clothes, and had started to feel out of breath. Luckily, though, he couldn’t concentrate on it because Frank started talking again and he focused on that instead.

“I get it. It’s hard to go chasing your dreams when you don’t really know what they are. Like, I know I want to be a musician and that’s not gonna get me anywhere now, because I have two babies to take care of but who knows, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere if I [i/]wasn’t[/i] a dad either.”

“It depends, are you talented?”

Frank felt doubtful. He thought he was, but was it okay to say it himself? Did it count if it was coming from him? He decided to answer with another question. “Are you?”

“I think I am,” Gerard replied, pretty confidently. 

“I think I am too, yeah. Man, I love playing guitar,” Frank sighed and looked away for a second. 

“Maybe it’ll happen someday, you are young. How old are you exactly?”

“19?” Frank said, guiltily.

“Holy motherf…”

“I know! Shut up” 

“With all due respect, you may be the bravest motherfucker I’ve ever met,” Gerard said half surprised, half impressed.

“Why? Because I fucked up and had two babies at 18?” Frank asked, a bit ashamed of himself. 

“No. Because you man up to it,” Gerard looked at Frank for a second and hesitated at first but then finally said “I’m sorry, I gotta ask. Where’s… their mom?”

“I…” Frank said after taking a big breath that meant there was a long story soon to follow, but the doorbell interrupted him. “Must be pizza. To be continued?”

“Yeah…” Gerard smiled at Frank with compassion, “Of course. Oh, your face is still red.”

“Well, it’s my true self anyways.” 

Frank got up from the floor, sitting Lily down and giving her a coloring book to look through as an exchange for his own hands which she had been playing with the whole time. Lily looked up at him with big eyes, unlike Cherry who was too busy trying with no luck to paint Gerard’s hands with the crayons. 

Frank looked back at Lily who gave him a sad, pleading look, to reassure her.

“I’m just going to the door to get food, honey,” he said with a smile and walked off, leaving Gerard in the room, wondering as usual, how it was that he communicated with the twins because as soon as Frank said that, Lily relaxed and flipped through her book carelessly. 

Finally, Gerard just smiled at the whole situation, until he heard Frank open the door and then someone shouting. 

“WHAT THE FUCK, FRANK!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised I was gonna updated soon and I didn't but I mean it this time.   
> Comments are always appreciated!


	4. Best of Women.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little back story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is dedicated to a friend of mine (and anyone who gets the reference)  
> I hope you enjoy this one, I cried half way through writing it.  
> Happy New Year!!

The bathroom door slammed in his face and Frank stood in front of it for a few seconds, staring as if he was trying to see through it to the other side. Inside the bathroom was his girlfriend, Jamia, barely 17 years old, just a couple of months younger than him, and she was the one who shut the door in his face. 

After a few moments, Frank finally gave up on trying to develop the x-ray vision he didn’t have, and just sat on the floor resting his head on the door. They were in his house and Linda, Frank’s mom, was at work leaving them all alone. So, being there on the other side of that door without Jamia made him feel lonely. 

“What are we gonna do?” he he heard from inside the bathroom finally. The voice was right next to his ear on the other side of the door, where he could tell Jamia was sitting opposite him.

He didn’t have an answer to her question. He had no idea what they were going to do now. The strip on the pregnancy test turned pick just about 5 minutes earlier, and he could feel himself change. Change into a father. That’s the only thing he was sure of. 

“We’ll figure it out,” he finally said, as sure as he could.

“My dad’s gonna straight up murder you.” 

“I know…” he let himself laugh although he was secretly hoping he actually didn’t know that was true. “My mom’s gonna flip.”

“What are we gonna do about college?”

“You can go to college,” Frank said without hesitation. 

“I am going to go to college? What about you?”

“I never wanted to go to college. You go, I’ll get a job.”

“Frank…” Jamia said in an earnest tone. “Don’t be ridiculous. You do great at school, you’re about to get a scholarship to get into Rutgers!”

“I do that for my mom. I don’t want to go to college, you know that. I want to be in a band. If I go to college I won’t do that either so I might as well do something useful and raise our baby while you go to college.”

Frank didn’t hear anything from Jamia but a click from the door, and it finally opened. He stood up to face his girlfriend, who, he could tell from the redness in her eyes, had been crying. 

“You’re serious,” Jamia said, not asking but as a statement because she realized Frank wasn’t just throwing ideas in the air. He was more serious than ever. More serious than that time he decided to be a vegetarian or a musician. Those were the only two choices Jamia saw him make without hesitation, and she knew they were for life so he was going to do everything to see them through. But now this new choice was against one of those two things and she didn’t know if she was strong enough to take that away from him. 

Still, it took a quick look into Frank’s eyes to see what he did as soon as she opened that door. It took only a moment for her to see that Frank wasn’t wrong about this choice. He wasn’t doing her any favors. He wasn’t sacrificing himself for her. Jamia watched Frank turn into a father as soon as that door opened and his first move was to put his hands on her belly and stare at it, as if he could actually see and feel the tiny human inside of her that was part of him. And she felt the instant connection. 

“I don’t see what else we could do,” Frank said, still looking at Jamia’s belly.

“There are other options…” Jamia said this and Frank looked up at her, eyes big as the world.

“Oh… I didn’t think… I guess you could…” Frank looked down at his shoes like they could save him. He really didn’t even considered about _that_ option and he didn’t think Jamia would. It did make sense but it wasn’t what he wanted. It really wasn’t. 

“I won’t do that to you, Frank.”

“It’s your body. I would never force you to-”

“Frank…” She interrupted him. “I could never take your baby from you.”

“It’s our baby.”

“Look at you Frank. You’re already a dad. I’m not ready to be a mom, but I will love this baby because I love you. I’m just not ready to be its mom. Not the mom it deserves. But you will be the best dad in the world and it deserves you.” Jamia lifted Frank’s chin with a finger and made him look at her. “Do you wanna do this?”

Jamia asked and Frank was sure of his answer, even though he never thought about fatherhood before simply because he was almost 18 years old, he was sure he wanted to do this. Was he scared? Yes, scared to death and absolutely not ready for it but he knew in his heart it was the right thing to do and he was sure he would never ever regret it. He wanted to be the dad of that baby now, that’s what he wanted to do now. 

Frank nodded. “I never thought I did, not like this. But I do.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“You just took off! Your mom is worried sick. I looked for you in like six small towns, Frank!”

Gerard couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, just the woman’s voice, but he didn’t think Frank was saying much in between the screams. He was looking at the kitchen arch that connected the hall to the door, but the door was out of sight around the corner so he couldn’t see anything. He looked down and saw that Lily had dropped her book and was clinging to the fabric of his jeans, and Cherry was looking up at him like she was expecting some sort of explanation. 

He shrugged and pulled Lily closer to him, then whispered, “It’s okay, everything’s fine.”

“I can’t believe you did this Frank, I really can’t…” At the door, Jamia was still screaming at Frank while he was looking down, feeling a bit ashamed because he knew Jamia was right and it was an ass move of him to leave without telling anyone, but if he had, he wouldn’t have been able to leave. 

“Whose house is this anyway?” she asked, looking around like she had only just noticed where she was. “Are you a squatter? Please don’t say yes.” She looked back at him then away again, frustrated, her eyes couldn’t fix still at one point. “You have to call your mom right now. And get the fuck back while you’re at it.” 

“I’m not coming back, Jamia,” Frank finally said, and it was the first full sentence he managed to form since Jamia rang the bell at the house.

“Are you insane, is that it? Please, tell me, did you lose your fucking mind? What are you gonna do here alone? You have _two_ babies. Cherry counts as five at least.”

“I’ll manage,” Frank shrugged and Jamia saw red out of fury.

“I really want to punch you in the face right now.”

“I know,” Frank chuckled. “I can’t believe you haven’t already.”

“Don’t get funny on me, Iero!” Jamia pointed a finger at his face and Frank backed down a little. 

“I’m not, I really can’t believe it.”

She sighed and changed her tone to one a little bit more preoccupied than angry, “What are you gonna do when you get sick during the winter?”

“I won’t get sick.”

“Yes, you will, it’s your _thing_.”

“I’ll figure it out…” He made a pause and looked up at her in a voice that said this was just as hard for him as it was for her. “Jamia, I can’t come back. I can’t do this to my mom.”

“Are you kidding me right now, Frank?” Jamia went back to her exasperated tone again. “She’s going to die from worry.” 

“No, she won’t. She knows I can manage by myself but she can’t stand this, Jamia. I saw her every day, the look in her eyes like I was throwing all this potential on the trash. And I know she loves the girls but she would look at them like it was their fault her son was good for nothing now. I can’t stand that,” Frank’s voice broke a little. He hadn’t talked about this with anybody until that moment and as much as it was killing him, it also felt good to get it off his chest. “I love my mom, you know I do, but if I stayed we would’ve ended up hating and resenting each other. It wasn’t right.”

Jamia took a long look at Frank as he paused. She nodded, because she knew he wasn’t wrong and knew there was no way she could convince him to go back home. 

“I hate you,” she finally said.

“I know you do. I can take that. I can take everyone hating me, but I can’t take everyone blaming them for everything, I can’t. They are _my_ babies, my little girls and they didn’t ask to be born, but still, we brought them to this stupid fucking world which is shit as it is, and that’s my responsibility. I can’t make them endure that too. It wasn’t their fault, it was mine, let them hate me.”

Jamia made a sound of frustration again and punched Frank in the shoulder, and then hugged him tight to her chest. Frank hugged her back. Jamia only stepped back when she saw someone with one of her babies coming out from behind the wall. 

“Umm… there’s a guy in the house you’re usurping,” she stated as she let go of Frank.

Frank turned around and saw Gerard holding Cherry In his arms, who was clinging to the collar of his t-shirt tightly, looking a little scared.

“I didn’t hear screams for a while, I was afraid you might have killed each other. Lily was too scared to come out,” he looked to his side at the kitchen where Lily was, just a few steps away.

“Oh baby…” Frank said, and rushed back to the kitchen to pick her up.

“Hey, Cherry!” Jamia said sweetly, and Cherry loosened up and threw her arms towards her. “I missed you, my little punk baby.” She said grabbing her and kissing her cheek. 

Frank joined them now, with Lily in his arms, who was hiding her face in his neck and hugging him tightly. “It’s okay, it’s just mom.” He told her, she turned around to peek, but went back to hide in Frank’s neck again. 

Gerard was standing there in front of them, all uncomfortable with his hands in his pockets, until Frank suddenly remembered he was there. 

“I’m so sorry!” he said guiltily. “Jamia, this is Gerard. He runs a diner in town and he’s been helping me since I got here, we became friends instantly. He’s kind of amazing.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Gerard said and saw that Jamia squinted her eyes at him. 

“He even bought a couple of baby chairs for the diner for the girls; that was really cool,” Frank added so Jamia would ease up on Gerard. 

Gerard turned all kinds of crimson when Frank said that, because he was hoping it wasn’t too obvious it was especially for the twins that he bought those chairs, so he couldn’t look up, he just shrugged. “It was nothing.”

Jamia was looking at him intensely like she was trying to figure him out and she kind of did when she noticed how brightly red he turned as Frank talked about him. She was picking up at something not even Gerard was aware of and even less so than Frank. 

“Oh…” She said, almost to herself, but out loud.

“Oh?” Gerard looked up confused.

“Oh?” Frank also asked and turned to her.

“Nice to meet you, Gerard,” she said quickly, to divert their wondering looks. “It’s good to know he’s not all alone out here.” Jamia offered her hand for a handshake, and Gerard took it. 

“I should probably go and leave you two alone,” Gerard said.

“Don’t leave on my account. I’m probably the one who should go anyways, I have to head back. And tell Linda you’re alive,” Jamia said and shot a murderous look at Frank. “Do you wanna…?” Jamia offered Cherry to Gerard.

“Sure…” he said and grabbed Cherry back from her. Jamia kissed her head and then Lily’s, who was in Frank’s arms. 

“I’ll be back, Iero, you better be all alive. And for God’s sake, call your mother. I’ll talk to her, but please call her.”

“I will, I promise.” Frank said, rocking Lily who was about to fall asleep, unlike Cherry whose eyes were opened big and she was paying attention to everything that was happening around her. 

“Again, nice to meet you, Gerard,” Jamia offered a smile at him and then turned to Frank and put a small kiss on his lips. “Call me, keep me informed, please. I know I said I wasn’t ready, but I still worry, okay?”

“I know,” Frank nodded. “I’m sorry I freaked you out.”

“It’s fine. For now. Next time you won’t find your balls.” 

Frank nodded at her and Jamia waved, leaving out the door. Frank closed it behind her and sighed deeply. “Well… that was mom.”

“I figured, yeah,” Gerard looked at Frank while playing with Cherry’s hand. Frank was distracted, still rocking Lily, not looking anywhere in particular. “Are you okay?”

Frank turned his eyes back at Gerard and suddenly felt relieved that he was there and he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t good at being alone when he was feeling like shit, like right at that moment. He sighed once again like no air could stay inside his lungs for long. 

“Not at all,” he finally said.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“Not really. I mean, unless you want to leave. This must have been fucking awkward for you, I’m such an asshole.”

“You’re not and I can stay. Isn’t pizza on the way? I could totally eat.”

“Yeah, it is. I almost forgot,” Frank pointed with his head to the kitchen, signaling Gerard to follow him as he walked back to the kitchen. He went over to the room next to the kitchen and put Lily down in her cradle. 

“I just noticed you’ve been carrying Cherry since you arrived. You don’t have to do that, really,” he said coming out of the room.

“I really like her,” Gerard smiled at Cherry who was still playing with his hand, completely mesmerized. “I don’t mind. I’m not doing it because I feel obligated.”

“You’re really great, you know?” Frank walked past Gerard and went on to grab some dishes and paper towels.

Gerard just shook his head with a shy smile; he wasn’t very good at compliments. He still had a million questions which the conversation between Jamia and Frank didn’t answer but he didn’t want to make Frank go back to that again. 

Instead, he opted to just change the subject altogether to something lighter to entertain Frank with stupid rants about how much he loved this or that comic book artist and style. Frank seemed to be enjoying that and he let go of what happened earlier, little by little. 

The pizza came and went, and the time went by quickly. It got pretty late really soon, and Cherry had fallen asleep on Gerard’s shoulder. He could see Frank was also very tired so he decided to call it a night. 

“I had a great time,” He finally said at the door, after putting Cherry down next to Lily. “Maybe you could come hang out with me and Ray some time?” 

“I don’t think I can go to too many places with two babies, but you are both welcome to come here anytime you want.” 

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” Gerard smiled and waved, and as he was about to turn to leave he turned back again to look at Frank. “Hey, Frank, don’t work yourself up about it too much, okay? You did what you thought was best, and I think that’s fucking brave.”

Frank’s eyes filled with tears that he was saving for probably crying himself to sleep that night, but he couldn’t hold them back any longer. He took two steps forward and hesitated a second, then hugged Gerard, almost throwing himself at him, resting his face on his chest for a second. It had been a very long time since someone said anything remotely encouraging to him, and Gerard didn’t make him feel like he was making one mistake after another, judging every decision he made. Gerard made him feel quite the opposite. 

Gerard, on the other hand, kind of froze for a second there, because he wasn’t used to spontaneous shows of affection. He wasn’t like that with almost anyone he knew, so it kind of shook him, but he quickly responded and hugged him back, rubbing Frank’s back. 

Frank stepped back again pulling himself together, or a little bit anyway. “I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.” He rubbed his eyes. 

“No need to apologize,” Gerard smiled at him. “Will you be okay?”

Frank took a deep breath. “Yeah… I think I will.”


	5. Dungeons and Dragons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody plays Dungeons and Dragons.

A couple of weeks passed since Jamia showed up at Frank’s door. As much as he didn’t like to admit it, he was relieved she was the one to show up and he didn’t have to take the first step and confront her. Not that Frank didn’t like to fight, he actually found it easy to pick a fight with just about anyone, but it was different with her. 

A few days after she was there he actually managed to call his mom. They both cried, but Linda understood and agreed it was for the best, even though she still wanted him to go back home anyway. She offered him help with money to which he refused, but she didn’t care and a few weeks later he got an envelope in the mail with some cash in it that he wanted to return to her, but he still had so much to fix around the house that he swallowed his pride and just took it. 

Now he would talk to Jamia and his mom periodically and keep them updated about everything so they wouldn’t want to kill him anymore. Nothing else remotely exciting was happening in Frank’s life except for the fact that the twins were really behaving during the guitar lessons he was giving. Even though that wasn’t technically exciting, he was fucking excited about it, because it meant he didn’t have to hire a nanny. Having a nanny obviously wouldn’t make any sense since he would have to pay her pretty much whatever he was earning anyway, so he might as well just starve to death.

It was the end of the day for him, at about nine that night and Frank was ready to head back home from Miss Gladys’ studio. He decided to walk by Way’s to wave at Gerard, and maybe if he wasn’t too busy he would go in and say hello. Frank informed the girls this, and they both got excited, Cherry almost throwing herself out of the stroller and running towards the diner. 

But as Frank got closer, he saw from outside that there was a guy sitting at the bar who Gerard was hugging tightly from behind. Frank frowned at this because he hadn’t seen this guy around, and it seemed weird that Gerard was hugging a stranger so affectionately. He stood there outside a little more and watched as Gerard laughed and smiled and took this guys hand from time to time. He was obviously very excited to see whoever this person was so he decided not to interrupt. Frank decided to go home to which he heard a loud complaint from Cherry when they didn’t go inside the diner. 

“He’s busy, honey…” Frank said and watched Cherry cross her arms on her chest and pout. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few days more went by and Frank couldn’t shake off a weird feeling he had in his gut. 

“I mean what if Gerard is gay?” He said as he was sitting up in bed with his legs stretched in front of him, Cherry sitting on them and facing him. Lily was asleep in the cradle next to them. 

“He should’ve mentioned it, right? Not that I mentioned that I’m bi, but it never came up… not that my sexuality is something relevant right now, to be honest. But if he had a boyfriend, it should’ve come up, right?” Cherry frowned. She really didn’t like where this was going. “Unless he was afraid I’d judge him, but seriously, I’m a teenage dad, who am I to judge anyone? Well actually if I think about it, if he thought I was completely straight it would make sense? Not that it matters, right? It’s great that he has a boyfriend!” 

Cherry made a face that said that that wasn’t so great for her. “It’s great. So cool. Yep.” Frank followed, nodding although his gut did that thing again that he was strongly denying was jealousy, but he soon got distracted as his phone started ringing. He checked the caller ID and it was, in fact, Gerard calling. His eyes opened widely at it and he showed Cherry. 

“Like in the movies,” He said to her before answering. “Hello?”

“Hey Frank!” Gerard replied on the other end of the phone, and he sounded more cheerful than usual. “How’s it going?”

“Hi! Great, great! Cherry hasn’t set anything on fire lately so I’m calling that a win.” Cherry made a face at him again and Frank stuck his tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes. 

“That’s good news! Hey, listen, sorry I kinda fell off the map these past few days. What’s new with you?” Gerard asked.

“Umm…” He wondered for a second, he didn’t want to tell him anything in particular, because Gerard was the one with news and he wanted to know whatever it was, but nevertheless he came up with something to say. “Not much, my mom sent me money and I wanted to send it back but then I remembered I’m poor so… maybe I’ll fix up the roof or something.” 

“Oh that’s awesome! If you need anything you know you just gotta ask. I’d be glad to help you out,” Gerard replied, cheerfully. 

“Hey man, you’re busy. It’s okay,” Frank said dryly, because he couldn’t help himself.

“Nonsense!” 

Frank closed his eyes and scrunched his nose. He was being a jerk, he knew it and Gerard was being great as usual so he didn’t want whatever it was that he was feeling get the best of him.

“You could start out by, I don’t know, coming over. Maybe tomorrow night? I’ve been meaning to experiment and make pizza waffles.”

Gerard laughed. “That actually sounds delicious but um… tomorrow night I kinda had plans.” 

“Oh…” Frank couldn’t help sounding disappointed. “Well maybe some other time then.”

“No, no I didn’t mean to…” Gerard tried to correct himself but Frank interrupted him. 

“Gerard, it’s fine.” He said in a voice that said it really _wasn’t_ fine. “You can’t. I get it.” Frank couldn’t shake the tone out of his voice and kind of wanted to hang up and maybe punch himself in the face a little. 

“It’s not that I can’t, not technically. It’s just that my brother is in town.” 

“Yeah… I figured.” Frank said over Gerard’s words but then his brain actually processed what Gerard had said. “Wait, did you say your brother?”

“Yes, my brother! Did you say you figured?” Gerard asked confused.

“Umm…” Frank sat up straighter and when he looked at Cherry in a panic she was smiling. Now he was kind of smiling too. “Yeah… yes. I mean, you said you were busy I figured you had a visitor or something…?” He finished the sentence in the form of a question, not for Gerard but for himself. He shrugged at Cherry who nodded as if she was saying he was doing great and he agreed, nodding with his head. 

“Yeah, he took a few days off of college and came home to visit me. If you want to, we can move the party there?” Gerard explained.

Frank hesitated for a second and even though he didn’t want to say no he said, “Well… I don’t think you guys wanna party here with two babies and shit.”

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s a D&D party.” 

“D&D!” Frank exclaimed, excitedly. “I’ve never played. I always wanted to but then I became a teenage dad and before that I was having sex, hence the dadding.” He joked.

“Well, the more the merrier, we can teach you. It was gonna be Ray, Mikey and me. Is that okay? I’ll bring something to drink and some food too,” Gerard offered and Frank could tell over the phone how excited he was. 

“Sounds great, yeah. So, Ray is the dude with the big hair so I’m guessing Mikey is your brother.”

“Yep, that’s him. So, tomorrow at eight, is that okay with you?”

“Great, we’ll be there!” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Several hours of sleep passed and tomorrow became today, which sent Frank into excitement about seeing Gerard. The twins could tell because they were also anxious and restless, mumbling nonstop between themselves.

Not long ago, Frank was a popular kid at school. Not popular like a jock or the hot guy all the girls wanted to date, but he had a lot of friends and people generally liked him. Or maybe they just didn’t hate him, which was a lot for high school. That was before Jamia got pregnant, then everyone dispersed like he was patient zero of a zombie virus. 

Now he didn’t really have anyone except for the friends he was starting to make in this new town, like Gerard. There was also Brendon, who was really cool with him. As he was looking for frozen waffles to make his grand invention, he made a mental note to ask Brendon over sometime. Brendon was also really cool with the twins so he thought he wouldn’t mind hanging out with them.

Not long after he got everything ready to start baking, the bell rang.

Outside, Gerard was waiting for the door to open as he dried sweat from his palms on his jeans. Next to him was Mikey who looked like he didn’t agree to this plan, more like he was dragged into it. Behind them both stood Ray. 

“What I don’t understand is why we have to spend the night with two one year olds. Couldn’t he get a baby sitter or something?” Mikey asked. 

“One and a _half_ ,” Gerard corrected, and Mikey rolled his eyes. “And no, Frank doesn’t have much money and the twins are cool. We don’t mind.”

“ _ **You**_ don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind either,” Ray added.

“Just be cool, okay?” Gerard warned Mikey but feeling hopeless.

“Whatever.” 

The door opened in front of them and there was Frank, holding Cherry up. As soon as she saw that Gerard was the person that stood on the other side of the door, she started to try and escape her dad’s grip, never mind the space between them, throwing herself towards Gerard.

“Oh,” Gerard said as he received her quickly. “You have to stop doing that.” He told her and she clung to his neck. He passed a grocery’s bag full of bottles to Frank so he could hold her better.

“Hey!” Frank greeted everyone with a wave. Ray waved back with a smile, but all Frank got from who he presumed was Mikey was a shrug. Gerard already had all of his attention on Cherry. 

“Come on in,” Frank added as he guided them inside and towards the kitchen where Lily was in the stroller, holding a book about a unicorn. 

When they were finally inside and Ray and Gerard said hi to Lily, Gerard proceeded to introduce Mikey to Frank. Frank was excited and happy, but Mikey looked like he couldn’t be bothered and just nodded. Frank stared at him for a moment. The obviously younger Way was tall and very thin, boney, with very sharp edges. He somehow managed to look like Gerard and not at all like him at the same time. Frank wondered how the way his hair fell over his face didn’t bother him since he was wearing glasses, but that thought made him feel old and he noticed how, even though he was still in his teens, he wasn’t a _teenager_ anymore.

As Gerard, who was still holding Cherry, and Ray were putting beverages inside the fridge, Mikey looked away from Frank’s analytic gaze, which Frank didn’t even notice he had. Mikey looked around the kitchen and finally his eyes met with the other twin. As he did, he noticed that the little girl was looking back at him, interested. He was, after all, the only person in the room Lily didn’t know. It didn’t take too long for Mikey to notice the unicorn book Lily was holding and suddenly his tough, careless pose, softened as he turned to her. He got closer to her stroller and pointed at the book.

“Do you like unicorns?” Mikey asked and Lily looked down at her book and then back at him and nodded. “Me too,” he said and they smiled at each other. “I like her.” Mikey stated turning back to the guys doing stuff in the kitchen in front of him. Gerard wanted to add a funny remark and tease him about it, but decided to save it for later, so he just smiled. He really wanted Mikey to enjoy spending time with Frank and the twins, maybe not as much as he did, but anything more than just baring through it. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

At last, Frank set his grand food invention on the table and everyone sat down, ready to dig in. Even though Frank insisted he didn’t have to, Gerard still had Cherry on his lap, while Frank himself had Lily. They ate while chatting about various things, getting to know each other a little better. Gerard grilled Mikey with five million questions about his classes in college after Mikey said he hadn’t really chosen a major yet and felt kinda lost. He didn’t seem too happy about all the questioning, which Frank could tell by the way he was answering mostly in monosyllables or nods, and very few full sentences. 

“How old are you?” Frank interrupted before Gerard could go on again about what period of art he was studying in Art History. 

“Umm… I’m 20. Why?” Mikey responded a little too defensively, and Gerard gave him a look which he ignored. 

“I don’t know. I just… I guess I think it’s okay that you don’t really know what the fuck you want in life.”

Mikey just blinked for a second, a little thrown away by the considerate tone Frank was using. He didn’t sound sarcastic or judgmental. He wasn’t joking. He was simply being understanding. He then thought that maybe he misjudged Frank by assuming that he was going to be judgmental about him being undecided about college. 

Mikey took a real look at Frank now for the first time and noticed he didn’t know his age. Or pretty much anything about the guy other than the fact that he was a dad and that Gerard apparently loved him or something- “How old are you anyway?”

Frank took a deep breath and rubbed his hands together before answering, nodding, expecting a big reaction. That same big reaction every time he says his age with one of the twins in his arms. “19…”

“Dude, holy fuck!”

“Mikey…” Gerard tried to stop him but Mikey was curious now. He sat closer to the edge of his chair expecting the secret origin story of this Frank dude.

“It’s okay…” Frank said to Gerard and proceeded to tell Mikey about himself. “I had a girlfriend in high school. She was… well _is_ my best friend. I knocked her up. She didn’t want to be a mom but I knew I wanted to be a dad as soon as I found out. So, we had the babies and I take care of them while she’s off at college.” 

“So you dropped out of school?” Mikey kept asking all the questions that Gerard and pretty much everyone in town was curious about. He wanted to stop his brother from asking them though because he didn’t want them to pry on Frank’s life, but he figured it was pointless because Mikey didn't seem to want to stop and he was sure Frank wouldn’t say anything he didn’t want to.

“Well, we both finished high school and as soon as the girls were born she went to college and I stayed with my mom and worked for a while, then I moved here because I didn’t want to impose on my mom. To be honest, I knew I broke her heart by being a teenage dad and I didn’t want to let her have the reminder everyday whenever I looked at her. I’d rather do it all by myself.” Frank shrugged off whatever feeling of sadness that was about to overcome him, he didn’t want to bum everyone out and ruin the night. But saying some facts about himself, as sad as they were, they were his choices and he was damn proud of them. 

“I can’t believe you’re doing this by yourself, man. That takes some guts,” Ray pitched into the conversation for the first time. He knew the basics, but not that Frank chose to be a single dad. Ray felt very proud of him, like he had been his friend for a very long time and was doing something extremely brave. 

“I don’t see it that way now. Since I got here, I’ve felt less alone and more supported than at home. Yeah, my mom was great help, but she was also miserable and it kinda felt like she was checking every minute that this wasn’t a nightmare. I mean, if I hadn’t met Gerard I would’ve been back home by now probably, but he’s been great and everyone in town is so helpful and understanding. It’s hard, but it’s kinda nice.”

“Well, I’m here too if you need anything. I’d be glad to give you a hand, Frank, with the girls or whatever. We can both help out,” Ray added and looked at Gerard for approval. Gerard nodded. 

“Thanks man. That means a lot,” Frank smiled at them. It felt good to be supported. It was a feeling he wished would never go away. He really hoped he stayed friends with these guys for a long time. 

Or… at least with Gerard and Ray because as soon as there was a pause, Mikey was at it again.  
“So, you gave up… _everything_ to be a dad?” It wasn’t that Mikey wanted to be judgmental about the whole situation, but it stung him a little that he was basically stuck with what he wanted in life when Frank seemed so sure and he was younger than him. It kinda bugged him. He wanted for him to at least tell him he was unhappy or that he screwed up or something. He knew he was being an asshole but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

“Mikey, come on…” Gerard made a second attempt at shutting his brother up, but it was ignored by Mikey who kept his eyes on Frank, expecting more.

“Well, I don’t see it that way,” Frank answered.

“But you did. You can’t go out, you can’t go to college. I bet you can barely watch TV. How does that not drive you crazy? You can’t tell me losing all these things was a choice. You are a fucking kid!” Mikey went on. 

Frank felt that what Mikey was telling him was exactly what his old friends were thinking when everything happened with the babies, but weren’t brave or old enough to come clean with him. They wouldn’t have let or have wanted him to explain his feelings. They just simply went away and didn’t deal with anything because they were all so young and couldn’t be bothered. So Frank gets it and gets where Mikey is coming from, but it still kind of pisses him off. 

“Well, I wasn’t much of a kid to put my dick inside my girlfriend,” Frank said in a defensive tone and then continued to keep explaining himself. “So now I’m owning what I did. Does it drive me crazy? Fuck yes, but I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself so I’m trying my fucking best. And I don’t know, I had my fair share of fun. I got fucked up, wasted at concerts more times than I can remember, and far younger than I should’ve been, so yeah, I don’t miss it.” He paused and looked at Mikey who was no longer eager to discuss his opinion with Frank anymore, and again looked like he really didn’t want to be there, so Frank smoothed his tone a little. “Look Mikey, I’m answering your questions, but I’m not trying to convince you or anything. Yes, this situation is not ideal but I’m trying fucking hard to do my best. I don’t expect you to understand or agree with me, you don’t have to. Now… I was promised some fucking D&D, wasn’t I?” He said, looking at the rest of the guys and putting an end to the conversation. 

“I’ll clean up, Gerard can set up the table,” Ray said as he was already standing and picking up plates.

“I’m gonna go for a smoke first. Or a knife,” Gerard stood up with Cherry in his arms who was almost half asleep by now, and walked past Mikey, giving him a murderous look. He got into the room behind them and put Cherry down in the cradle. She complained for a bit but was too tired to fight it. Frank walked right behind him with Lily already asleep in his arms. 

“Can I have a smoke too? It’s been a million years,” Frank said, walking in the room behind Gerard and putting Lily down next to Cherry. 

“Sure,” Gerard said and Frank led him to the deck through the back door in the kitchen, leaving Mikey and Ray behind. 

Once outside Gerard gave a cigarette to Frank and lit both his own and Frank’s, and they just stood there for a while. He didn’t know where to begin apologizing for making the night so uncomfortable. He knew it wasn’t his fault directly but somewhere inside him he knew Mikey was going to be a little bit of a jerk, he just didn’t know he was gonna be that big of a jerk. He really wanted to spend some time with Frank without having to miss out on time with his brother. So, he finally decided to just say that.

“I’m so sorry about that Frank,” Gerard started, half turning to look at him. “I really wanted to just have some fun tonight with everyone. I didn’t know Mikey was gonna go ballistic on your ass.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Frank shrugged but he didn’t completely turn to look at Gerard. Truth is, he wasn’t fine, so he didn’t want Gerard to see it quite yet“I think he might be a little jealous of how much you care about me, you know?”

“You think?”

“Well… I don’t know. I don’t know him. But… maybe he was expecting your attention to be on him while he was here and not on some twins and their jackass dad. I don’t know, maybe, I’m just guessing.”

“We’re kinda protective of each other. I just didn’t think…” 

“Yeah, well… he is a kid. I would be pissed, if I were him.” Frank added finally cooling down and turning to Gerard as he finished his cigarette and put it off on the floor with his foot. 

“Maybe some D&D will cool him off,” Gerard added, finishing his own cigarette, relieved that Frank didn’t hate him or Mikey. 

“You should totally let him kill me or something,” Frank told him with his eyes big, like this was the best idea he could’ve possibly come up with to ease the situation. Gerard laughed at this and nodded in agreement. Frank then turned to go back inside, but Gerard stopped him and he turned around.

“Frank… you didn’t have to tell him all those things about you, ya know? You could’ve just shut him up or ignored him.” 

“I don’t mind talking about it, really, it’s fine. And besides, I figured that if he barely knew me and wanted to know, maybe you or Ray wanted to know too.”

“I kinda did…” Gerard made a guilty face at Frank. 

“Yeah, I thought so. You can ask me whatever you want, Gee, it’s totally fine with me. I love talking to you.” Frank turned around and headed back inside. Gerard was relieved because as soon as Frank called him ‘Gee’ he turned pink for some reason. He waited for a few seconds outside, just wondering what the fuck was happening to him, but quickly shook it off when he heard Ray shout for him to set up the D&D table. 

He got inside and then the game, as they say, was on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a million years and I swear I didn't forget, I actually have been working on this chapter for a long time but the longer it got, the more time it took me to type it (yeah, I write by hand, remember I'm an asshole?)  
> Anyways, I've already started the next chapter. I know I said that in last chapter's notes so it doesn't really say much but I promise I will try to update sooner. 
> 
> Thank you for sticking around!! ~  
> PS, Oh extra brownie points to whoever catches the Gilmore Girls quote!  
> xoNa


	6. Calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they don't have Ice-Cream because there's no such a thing as Ice-Cream delivery in USA.

It was autumn and Jamia loved to be outside. She didn’t mind getting dirty at all if it means she got to sit on the crunchy leaves on the ground for a smoke, and she actually enjoyed the chilly weather when it didn’t really carve into her bones quite yet. It was just the kind of chill that she enjoyed.

She was almost 17, and wearing eyeliner as more of a statement than in a “looking pretty” kind of way. Even though it was probably too much eyeliner, she managed to look gorgeous anyways. Her green eyes popped behind all that black which also contrasted with her pale white skin. She’d spent all of summer inside and avoided the sun as much as possible, going out mostly at night so as to keep her skin untanned. 

People told her she looked like a vampire, which she didn’t think was particularly clever, and if they were trying to make her feel bad or insult her, they should fucking try harder than that. She then sometimes drifted off thinking about how fucking cool it would be to be a vampire and stopped paying attention to whoever was trying to convince her that a little bit of sun is good for her or to anyone who just wanted to annoy her. Most people annoyed her anyway so she drifted off pretty fucking frequently. For example, right now, her mind was somewhere else thinking about all the things she’d rather do than the chemistry homework she’ll be getting later for skipping last period. She was so far gone into her list that she startled a little when Frank walked up to her. 

“I was wondering where you went.” He said, standing in front of her with his backpack still hanging from one of his shoulders. “My mom said you weren’t feeling good. Are you okay?”

Jamia turned to Frank, surprised that he was there in front of her and suddenly remembered that she snuck out of school and went to his house to wait for him in his back yard. She had told Linda some lie about cramps and not wanting to be home. Linda loved Jamia so she didn’t mind her being there even though Frank wasn’t. She let her in before telling to Jamia to make herself at home while she went to go get some OJ and bread to make them sandwiches when Frank got home.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” She finally replied. “I wasn’t in the mood for chemistry.”

“Something wrong?”

“Just kinda moody. Maybe my period is coming soon. Whatever,” Jamia shrugged as she really didn’t know why she was moody but she usually was so she didn’t pay too much mind to it.

Frank just nodded at this and finally dropped his back pack on the grass, sitting next to her, and putting a soft kiss on her lips. “Hi.” He said and she finally smiled at him. Frank then proceeded to take his notebook from his backpack and handed it to her. “We learned some new shit. I’ll explain it to you when you copy my notes. We gotta make a project soon I thought we could do it together, if you wanna.”

“Ah, my hero,” she hugged his notebook to her chest with her eyes closed as if he had just given her a book full of romantic poems written specially for her. 

“Shut up,” he elbowed her softly.

“Who wants Prince Charming when you can date a nerd who does your homework? Girls are wrong about their prospects, really. Prince Charming is a dumb fuck.”

“I can’t figure out if you’re flattering me, insulting me, both, or neither.”

“Both, honey.” 

Jamia brought him close to her and they made out for a while. She played with his lip ring because she knew he loved it and he put a hand on her lower back under her _Bride of Frankenstein_ t-shirt that she liked to use ironically because his name was Frank and because, honestly, they both loved trashy, old horror movies. 

While they were making out Jamia let out a moan or two because her teenage hormones couldn’t handle how gentle Frank’s touch was. She leaned over him a little more, ready to take the make out session to the next level, but he softly stopped her and pushed her away a little. 

“Jami, not here,” He said still very close to her face.

“Let’s go to your room then,” Jamia told him in her sexy voice and as much as he would love to be stupid and risk getting caught, he put some distance between them. 

“My mom is here. I’d rather her not walk in on us, and we have no place for us to hang out or be alone,” he said because they both know her place was not an option because Jamia had an older brother who hated Frank’s guts just because he was dating his sister. 

“Ugh…” She backs off. “You’re right. I hate it when you’re right. It’s so weird that you care so much.” Jamia said, because she knew from her girl friends that guys usually don’t care about that sort of stuff. 

“I’m sorry,” Frank gave her a guilty look because he knew he was kind of a momma’s boy. 

“No, it’s okay. But honestly? You are so different from guys in general. Like, if we weren’t dating, and you hadn’t fucked me senseless a bunch of times, I’d wonder if you were gay.” 

Frank dropped a very forced, very fake laugh trying to hide, poorly, that he had in fact wondered that himself, which was effectively pointless because Jamia saw right through him. 

“What the fuck, Frank?” She asked confused.

Frank shut up for a moment, not looking at her, then turned to look her in the eye. “Okay… okay. You know I love you, I do.”

“You do, I know.”

“And I’m not saying this is what makes me care so much, that’s all my mom probably. But umm… I think I could also like a guy. I’m not saying that I do right now. Not someone in particular. At first I thought that I was just openminded and could appreciate beauty when I saw it but I don’t think it’s just that… I think that if we ever break up, which I doubt…”

“Corny…” she interrupts him.

“ **which I doubt…** ” he stresses and finishes his thought. “maybe… maybe I could date a guy.” 

“Huh...” Jamia said out loud, but she thought that it made sense. It’s so Frank-like that she kinda couldn’t believe she didn’t figure it out before he did. 

“Are you mad at me?” Frank asked a little worried.

“Are you gonna cheat on me?” Jamia countered him.

“No. Not at all. It’s not even about that, that I’m saying this to you.”

“Then I’m okay with it. Now if you do cheat on me with a guy and he is ugly or you don’t take pictures, I’ll rip your dick off,” she shrugged.

“This is what you got from what I just said? You sound like a dude.”

“Well… it serves you well,” She said, obviously joking but she could tell Frank was still a little worried so she took a more serious approach and, in spite of hating that kind of thing, she told him how she really felt. “Frankie, of course I’m okay with this. I love you, why wouldn’t I be okay with who you are? You already knew in your heart that I’d be okay with this because you know me, and you knew I wasn’t going to judge you. So you like guys too. So what? You _should_ , you’re gorgeous, you shouldn’t have to choose to be honest. If you’re ever single again I hope you get to fuck everything that has a pulse.” 

Frank looked at Jamia and counted himself lucky. Not only was she by far the prettiest girl he’d ever seen she was very much like him. She didn’t put labels on people, she couldn’t care less about labels actually and that was probably why she hated most people. 

People are constantly trying to put you in a box with a bunch of other people that they think are similar to you, so that they can _categorize_ you. But everyone is different in their own little ways, so fuck labels. That was pretty much Jamia’s view on life and Frank agreed with her for the most part, although he didn’t hate people as much, probably for the same reason she _did_ hate them. Frank was a lot more idealistic and thought that the fact that people were so different is the reason why he usually thought the best of them and gave them the chance to surprise him. He was also a very short-tempered little dude and if you were ever to miss that chance and choose to be an asshole, you could expect him to be an asshole right back. 

“I love you too,” Frank finally told her, and it had a new meaning for both of them now. 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dude… this shouldn’t be that hard. It’s only 5 dudes.”

Frank came back to the reality in his kitchen at the sound of Brendon’s voice. It felt weird coming back from the short trip down memory lane he’d just had. He spaced out for a minute remembering when he came out to Jamia when Brendon asked him, after his third beer, to make a top 5 list of guys that he would make an exception for and have sex with. Brendon’s list consisted of Frank Sinatra, Harrison Ford, Billy Joe Armstrong, Henry Cavill, and Obama. Now that Frank was thinking about it, the latter should have been what snapped him out of his trance. 

“Sorry. No, it’s actually not, you’re right, but um… it kind of wouldn’t be an exception for me,” Frank finally answered.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well… I’m kind of bisexual?”

“How can you be kinda bisexual Frank? Either you are or you aren’t,” Brendon tilted his head a little as he looked at Frank, confused.

“Well I am, but I don’t think my sexuality is relevant anymore given my situation, you know? It’s not like I’m going to date anyone in the next 5 million years, so what does it matter?” 

“Why not? You are an eligible gentleman, anyone would be lucky to date you.” Brendon usually spoke weirdly like that.

“Who would want to date a 19-year-old dad of twins?”

“I would date you,” Brendon shrugged.

Frank blinked rapidly for a few seconds and then frowned. He knew he heard him right but still felt the need to ask, not because he thought he heard wrong but because he mostly couldn’t believe what he just heard. “I’m sorry… what did you just say?”

“It’s not that I’m gay,” Brendon followed as if he was in his own conversation. “But I know I’m definitely not straight. I don’t know, I just like people, I don’t care what gender they are.”

“Okay…?” Frank said even though he was confused as hell, but before he could ask something else or Brendon could confuse him any more than he already had, the doorbell rang. “…what the?”

“Oh, tell me you ordered food.”

“I didn’t but that’s not a bad idea. If you have a delivery number, you should call. I’ll go check the door,” Frank said and stood up. He first peeped into the twins’ bedroom to see if they woke up from the sound of the doorbell, but neither of them had, so then he went to check the door.

Once there, he looked through the peephole and to his surprise, Gerard was on the other side. 

“Hey!” Frank greeted him excitedly.

“Hi! Sorry I stopped by without calling before. I was driving around and I saw they’re screening _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ at the local theater which isn’t really a theater, it’s just a room with a screen and a bunch of couches and chairs. Now, I know you’re gonna say that you can’t cause of the twins, but honestly there’s no one there,” Gerard explained himself, almost without breathing, and gesturing a lot with his hands. He was going to add something else so Frank couldn’t say no but as he was opening his mouth to say something he heard a voice coming from inside the house.

“So, pizza is an obvious choice but would you prefer Chinese or maybe something different?” Brendon said coming out of the kitchen with his phone on his hands. “Oh, hey, Way.” He said as soon as he saw Gerard when he lifted his face up to look at Frank. 

Gerard was genuinely stunned but he managed to let out a, “Hey, Brendon.”

“Still hate my guts?” Brendon asked without fear of making things awkward, “’Cause we were gonna get some food if you want some?” 

“I’m fine thanks. I’ll leave you guys to it.”

“Suit yourself…” Brendon shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.

Frank watched Brendon leave and turned back to Gerard. “Come on, stay!”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to intrude. I really should’ve called before.”

“You never have to call before coming over, it’s fine, I don’t mind. I actually love it. If this was any other day you would’ve made my night.” Frank said and he really meant it. 

“I think this proves it’s better if I call. See you tomorrow?” Gerard said as he started to walk away.

“Gerard, wait. What happened between you two?” Frank asked, honestly curious about the whole thing because Gerard didn’t strike him as a judgmental person, and he was almost 99% sure Brendon wouldn’t have done or said anything bad to Gerard. 

“Nothing in particular. Our personalities are just not compatible, I guess,” he shrugged.

“Consider giving him another chance? Not today but, some day? He is really cool.” 

“I’ll think about it,” Gerard nodded and put his hands in the pocket of his jeans and started to walk away again. 

Frank went back inside to be informed that Brendon ordered a lot of different things from a Chinese restaurant because he didn’t know what Frank liked, leading him to assume that he was going to be eating Chinese the whole week which wasn’t at all a bad thing. 

He couldn’t help but shake the feeling that Gerard wasn’t upset just because he was hanging out with Brendon _because_ he was Brendon. But what else could he be upset about? That they didn’t get to hang out? Well, that probably was a bummer for Gerard as well, but he was sorry about it. He still didn’t think that was it, though. Frank decided to put all these thoughts aside and focus on keep having fun with Brendon, and talk to Gerard at a later time. He thought about how he could maybe convince Gerard to hang out with Brendon in the future, maybe teach him some D &D too and invite him to their parties. 

The evening came to an end as Frank and Brendon ran out of things to talk about, because they were both tired, so they decided to call it a night. Frank walked Brendon to the door and was ready to say goodbye when Brendon turned to him before leaving. 

“So, would you like to then?” He asked, but Frank wasn’t following him.

“I’m sorry? Would like to what?”

“Go out on a date,” He said, confident and without hesitation which took Frank by surprise. 

“With you?”

“Yeah, with me! It’ll be fun, come on!” 

“Wouldn’t it be weird? We work together and we’re friends. What happens if it doesn’t work out?”

“Come on Frankie, it’s just a date, I’m not asking you to marry me. If it doesn’t work we’ll laugh about what a couple of idiots we were for trying, and I’ll be the best man at your wedding. How about we don’t overthink it and just have fun? I think it’ll do you some good.” 

Frank considered it for a second. Brendon had a point and he really liked the guy, maybe not romantically but that could change, and you had to be either blind or stupid not to see that he was gorgeous, so how bad could it be? It was great that he didn’t have to worry about telling someone new about the twins and having them judge him, so that was a plus. 

“Alright. Let’s do it!” He finally said.

“Great!” Brendon cheered. “I’ll look up somewhere fun to take you, and I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Sounds great. I’ll get someone to babysit,” Frank smiled and he was actually kind of excited about the prospect of a night out. 

“Cool,” Brendon got close to Frank and kissed his cheek. “Goodnight!” He walked down the little flight of stairs that were off of the porch and waved back as he walked away.

Frank waved back and went back inside the house once he was gone. He smiled to himself, but for some reason Gerard popped into his mind, and suddenly he didn’t feel quite as excited as before. He told himself it was because Gerard didn’t like Brendon and maybe he wasn’t gonna like it when he asked him to babysit the twins. Or maybe it was something else that he had been denying to himself completely, and wasn’t ready to see just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm moving to USA and starting a Gelatto delivery bussiness, you're all welcome.
> 
> Enjoy and comment and you'll have your first gelatto order for free when I'm rich in your country!  
> xoNa~
> 
> ps, this one is especially dedicated to Jamia's number one fan Sophie (if you like Once Upon A Time, she's TheEvilQueer and writes too!


	7. I don't blame you for being you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some minor shit goes down. Brendon is not his real age but 20-something.  
> Someone should make me stop naming chapters after FOB lyrics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This hasn't been beta-ed so I apologize in advance for any mistakes it could have. Remember English is not my mother lenguage before stoning me to death because of a grammatical error.

A few days passed since Brendon asked Frank out and they saw each other every day at work throughout the week. It surprised Frank that nothing was awkward or weird between them, Brendon wasn’t acting any different which to him was a relief. Not that Frank knew if this was a normal behavior or not, because he didn’t know a whole lot about the dating world. The only person he ever dated was Jamia and they were a weird kind of couple and not like the rest of the couples in high school so he didn’t have much to compare this situation with. He didn’t quite know how things worked and still doesn’t up until this day but he thought that the fact that nothing changed between Brendon and him was a good sign. 

Things did change with Gerard though because they were barely texting and whenever Frank stopped by the diner, he was never there. Cherry was starting to get anxious about this too because she would stare angrily at Frank whenever they wouldn’t go in or just talk to Ray when they did. 

Frank finally decided that it was time to talk to Gerard about whatever was going on with him because he honestly missed him so he headed to the diner before work. He also wanted to ask him if he could look after the twins on Saturday night when he’s going out with Brendon but he first wanted to make sure they were okay. Not that he couldn’t ask Ray but asking Gerard first seemed right and he didn’t want to make things worse than they already were. 

“You have to tell me where he is Ray.” Frank said as he finally sat at the bar of the diner with the twins on their stroller right next to him. Ray was coming and going around him serving food and Gerard was nowhere to be seen. 

“He’s been dealing with paperwork lately. He comes in very early in the morning to settle everything in to make it easier for me during the day and then he retreats upstairs. I guess he’s there now, I didn’t see him leave today.” Ray said, leaning on the bar in front of Frank, after serving his last table. 

“Oh…” Frank said and a tiny little idea crawled into his mind. He had to see Gerard. “You think he’ll kill me if I go up?”

“He’ll kill me maybe but not you. Why you?” Ray said and then thought about it a little more, standing straight. “Oh because of the Brendon thing.”

“News travel fast.” Frank observed but not in a bad way. It didn’t bother him that Ray knew he was friends with Brendon or anything, it bothered him though, that Gerard wasn’t talking to him about it. After all he was the one doing the damage, whatever that was. 

“Sorry. Was I not supposed to know about that?” Ray asked him a bit mortified. To be fair, he wasn’t used to a larger group of friends, three at a time was a crowd for him. He was used to it being just Gerard and him. And he wasn’t very good at lying. 

“No, it’s okay that you know. It’s just… I wish Gerard would talk to me too.” Frank made a pause, and then looked back at Ray again. “Hey, do you hate Brendon too?”

“No way! He’s a great dude. He knows a lot about music.” Ray nodded.

Frank was at the very least surprised at this and very confused. “Wait… and does Gerard also hate you hanging out with him?”

“Well, we don’t really hang out. Not anymore anyways. We used to go to school together, all of us. Brendon, Mikey, Gerard and a couple of other friends of ours. We had our little group back then. We were all in different grades but there’s only one school here so we used to hang out. Brendon’s younger than me but we saw each other on extracurricular activities. We were more of music guys and Gerard and Mikey were more into art.”

“Wait, what?” Frank’s confusion was growing by the minute and suddenly Gerard excuse about Brendon’s personality didn’t strike him as the whole truth. Something must have happened between them, he thought and fuck he was curious now. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t be the one telling you this.”

“You know what, you’re right. I’ll go ask him. Would you keep an eye on the twins?” Frank stood up determined. 

“Yeah, of course.” Said Ray a little intimidated by Frank’s attitude. Frank was one fierce little dude he was sure he never wanted to get on the bad side of. 

Frank leaned on the twins to kiss their little heads and tell them he would be right back but he addressed Cherry especially “Please behave if you want to see Gerard again.” To which Cherry pouted and crossed her arms on her chest. Frank knew she was gonna do as she was told, it wasn’t like Cherry didn’t have the ability to behave, she just hardly ever wanted to. 

After leaving the twins with Ray, Frank went behind the counter to the back of the diner through a hall that led to a stairs to the first floor where he knew Gerard’s apartment was. He had never been there before now that he thought about it which made him a bit more nervous than he was for some reason. He finally made it to the apartment’s door, which looked more like a door to an office than anything else, took a deep breath and knocked on it. He heard a “Come in” from the inside and hesitated for a second because Gerard didn’t know it was him knocking but he chose to go in anyway and get kicked out later.  
He opened the door and saw Gerard immediately, sitting at a table right in front of the apartment’s entrance. Behind him was a small kitchen and to his right what seemed like the bedroom area. Everything was like a big room or a very small loft. There was no separation except for the bathroom he guessed was the door to the left. Frank was looking around a little bit of in awe because almost every single wall was cover either in posters or book cases full of comic books, books or action figures. The place was so fucking cool, Frank though. He was a little offended Gerard never invited him upstairs now. 

As he observed a little more, yeah, maybe it was because Gerard was a bit of a mess, he thought, as he started to notice the piles of clothes here and there and the art supplies and paintings on the floor. And in spite of that, Frank still found the place extremely cool. 

After looking around and taking everything in, his eyes then finally fell on Gerard. The table was full of pencils and markers and he was working on a drawing Frank couldn’t quite figure out. Gerard was so concentrated that he still hadn’t notice Frank which was great for him because he got to look at him work. Gerard had the tip of his tongue stuck out of his mouth like he was trying something very hard and every other second he would pass his free hand through his hair and tuck it behind his ear as a more of a reflex than anything else because Gerard’s hair wasn’t particularly long at the moment but Frank guessed it must have been and that’s how he had picked up this tic. 

“What is it Ray?” Gerard suddenly asked, remembering that someone knocked on the door a second ago. Or was it a minute? He shook his head and lifted it but it wasn’t Ray at the door. “Frank.” He said and Frank blinked a couple of times to get out of his own trance. 

“Oh, hey. Hi… Sorry, uh.. sorry to barge in. Ray sent me up. Don’t kill him?” 

“It’s okay, it’s fine, yeah.” Gerard said and put the pencil he was using down.

“Is it though?” Frank didn’t waste any time pretending he was there for something else and went right into it. “You’ve been kina ignoring me lately and I wanted to know if you were okay. If we’re okay.”

Gerard felt stupid and guilty for making Frank feel like he was mad at him. He really wasn’t but his feelings were getting the best of him and he couldn’t really even figure out what it was that he was feeling. Instead of saying this, he chose to kind of lie to Frank. “Sorry. I’ve been busy and distracted.”

“Oh, okay. Sure.” Frank could see right through Gerard and whatever he wasn’t telling him and it was obviously hard for him to let out and decided to go for a kind approach and walked towards where Gerard was sitting. “It’d be nice, though, if you went back to hang out with us and be at the diner again sometimes? I also think Cherry’s gonna murder me in my sleep if she doesn’t see you soon. And… maybe… maybe I miss you too?” He didn’t meant for it to come out flirty, he didn’t even notice it did.  
“Oh… yeah?” Gerard blushed a little against his will.

“I said maybe.” Frank rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, I’m free all week. Come whenever!” he said stomping his feet like a child asking his mom for an ice cream.

“Okay, alright, I’ll stop by soon.” Gerard said laughing 

“Well, except Saturday maybe. I’m going out with Brendon.”

“Oh…” Gerard’s laugh faded quickly and a kind of somber fell onto his face. He hated himself for not being able to control his emotions and the fact that it got to him that Frank liked Brendon so much, even if he had no idea how much.

“Okay, what’s your problem with the guy? Come on, is there something horrible about him I’m not seeing?” Frank asked genuinely worried now. Maybe Brendon was some sort of serial killer that everyone knew about but was afraid of him or something as equally terrible as that. 

“I just… don’t like the guy. I don’t like his personality. He’s too… I don’t know.” Gerard was trying to avoid the truth but what came out of his mouth was worse than that without him noticing. 

“Oh I see… So you don’t like that he’s not straight.” 

“What!?” Gerard said finally kind of hearing himself. “No! I didn’t know that he wasn’t.”

“Well… I guess you’re not gonna like me ‘cause I’m not straight either and he happened to asked me out and I said yes.” Frank wasn’t interested in Gerard’s excuses and wasn’t listening to him anymore. Anger took over his ears now but Gerard wasn’t saying anything. He was stunned, he looked hurt? No, he wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this.”

“Frank, no. It’s nothing like that.” Gerard was trying to explain himself but there was a buzz inside his head that wasn’t letting him form a coherent thought. All he could do is tell himself he heard wrong and Frank wasn’t going out _on a date_ with Brendon.

“I think it’s exactly like that.” Frank stepped back. “Work on your internalized homophobia Gerard and call me when you’re done.” He shakes his head disappointed and heads downstairs.

“Frank, wait.” Gerard said to thin air without the strength to actually make Frank hear. “Fuck!” He exclaimed, angry with himself. 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Everybody out! Get your food and get out. _Now!_ ”

Gerard was standing at the entrance of the diner with the door opened, screaming at his costumers who started to gather their things and started to leave in panic. Ray, also in panic, walked to a few tables to help people put their food in paper bags. When everyone was successfully out of the diner, Gerard closed the door and flipped over the “open” sign. 

“Please tell me no one died.” Ray said, more to the universe than to Gerard, because knowing him, whenever something bad happened, Gerard’s first instinct was to get mad and then very, very depressed. Just like when his grandma Helena died. 

“I fucked up.” Gerard threw himself heavy on a chair covering his face with both his hands. Ray left the table cloth he had on his hand on the bar and went to sit in front of him. 

“What happened?” He asked, worried.

“Frank thinks I’m homophobic and I think he really fucking hates me.” Gerard said from behind his hands, still hiding his face. He was so embarrassed he even found it hard to look Ray, the person that knew him best after Mikey, in the eye. 

Ray laughed because there was no way Gerard was being serious. There was no way anyone could think Gerard was homophobic, he was probably the most open minded person Ray knew, there was no way in hell… but Gerard was still covering his face. “Oh you’re dead serious, okay. How in the world did he come to this fucking absurd conclusion?”

“’Cause he thinks I hate Brendon ‘cause he’s gay.” Gerard finally uncovered his face a little to look at Ray and his reaction.

“Wait, Brendon’s gay?” Ray wondered, although he wasn’t really surprised.

“Not straight is what he said. And he asked Frank out.” The words came out of his mouth and he couldn’t even recognize them. He didn’t want them to be true. But why? 

“Oh…” Ray finally understood. “And you’re jealous.” He said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No!” Gerard said defensively.

“No?”

“No, why would I be jealous?” Gerard asked as this was absurd but deep down he knew it was probably exactly what he was denying he was feeling.

“I don’t know! But you look jealous.”

“I’m not” he defended himself. “I just… I don’t like Brendon, I don’t care what he fucks, I don’t want him fucking people in my life.”

“Especially Frank.” Ray said casually in the middle of Gerard’s rant and Gerard fell for it.

“ _Especially_ Frank” Gerard agreed but soon heard himself. “No. Wait…” Ray snorted and shook his head. “Shut up!”

“Listen, why don’t you just tell Frank what happened?” Ray asked Gerard because, seriously, it seemed like the easiest fucking solution to this whole thing.  
“He’ll think I’m an idiot.” Gerard covered his face with his hands again thinking about how childish he was being.

“He won’t have to make an effort to think that…” Ray said and Gerard threw him a killer look from between his fingers and went back to hiding. “How’s that worse than what he thinks of you right now though? And you know what? You should also talk to Brendon too. This is really stupid, this one sided beef you have with him.” 

“He should know what happened!” Gerard uncovered his face and snapped.

“But Brendon is self absorbed and narcissistic. He wouldn’t know the world’s ending if a zombie doesn’t come bite him directly in the ass.” Ray shrugged like this was obvious. 

“How was I ever friends with that asshole?”

“’Cause Brendon’s great and you know that, in spite whatever happened between you two.” Ray changed his tone from a reprimanding one to one a little more compassionate. “And you know that’s why Frank likes him and you also know Brendon can’t do to Frank what he did to you, not now. He has nothing to prove now. And thus Frank will never hate him like you do.”

“I thought that’s what friends were for. Hating what you hate.” Gerard said pouting.

“Well… not always my friend.” Ray shrugged again. “Look, I’m supposed to watch the twins on Saturday. Why don’t you go instead? Tell him the truth. Maybe you even ruin their date.” He gave Gerard a knowing look. 

“I don’t want that…” 

“Yeah you do!”

“Yeah I do…” Gerard whispered. “I’m a horrible person.” He whined and let his face fall onto the table on his arms. 

“No, you just like the guy.” Ray stated again like this was the most obvious thing in the world. It was getting a bit frustrating that Gerard couldn’t see it himself. 

“No, I don’t” Gerard lifted himself abruptly and defended himself. 

“Yeah, whatever.” Ray rolled his eyes. “Can I go back to work now?”

“Yeah, let’s open again. I’ll stay with you.” 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gerard was so anxious for Saturday to come along that even though it was just a couple of days away, they felt like forever until it finally arrived and the hours that he spent awake waiting for the time to go to Frank’s felt like months. It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion but in the end he made it to his house and after a couple of minutes in front of his door breathing in and out he finally built up the courage and rang the bell. 

A minute later, Frank was at the door in tight jeans and a black shirt but in his socks which Gerard found adorable. Adorable? More like comical, yeah. Frank didn’t look happy at all to see him which was a first and it stung Gerard a little that he wasn’t received with the usual cheer he was used to by now. 

“Hey…” Gerard finally managed. 

“I’m going out Gerard, not now okay?” Frank looked more disappointed than mad like the last time Gerard saw him which he thought could be in his favor.

“I’m here to babysit.” Gerard replayed.

“Why? What happened to Ray?” 

“Nothing, he’s fine. Look, can we talk, please? “Gerard walked a step closer to Frank and he was talking in a deep apologetic tone Frank was finding hard to say no to. “I want to tell you what happened with Brendon. I don’t want you thinking I’m homophobic, I’m not. I can promise you that. If you still don’t want me here after I tell you I’ll call Ray and he’ll come right away”

“Okay…” Frank agreed because Gerard looked sincere and he was fairly sure he hadn’t been faking being the person he was all this time and Frank knew Gerard didn’t need to lie to him. “Come on in.” 

As soon as they step foot on the kitchen, Cherry started screaming nonsense and moving anxiously on the stroller. Gerard went straight to them, kissed them both on their little heads and picked Cherry up hugging her tight and so did she. “Missed you too.” He told her.

Frank looked at the picture in front of him and felt a little overwhelmed all of the sudden that he almost forgot why he was mad at Gerard all together but then he remembered the fight at his place and he was more than ready to listen to whatever Gerard had to say to him because he really wanted to make things better and go back to normal.

“I have to get ready Gerard…” Frank crossed his arms to his chest as he stood against the counter on the kitchen. Gerard looked up at him from Cherry and for a second he saw how much they looked alike.

“Right, sorry” Cherry was playing with Gerard fingers while he was trying to concentrate on what he came to say. “So, first of all, I wanted to apologize. I was an asshole. I should’ve talked to you and tell you the whole story first instead of just hide and hope it would all go away. It was fucking stupid of me.” He said as he rocked Cherry on his place.

“It really was a shit move Gerard.” Frank agreed. “But what happened with Brendon then?” He needed to know this before his date or else it would eat him alive inside.

“Well, you should know this was a long time ago…” Gerard started. “We actually used to be friends. He was friends with Mikey when we were kids and he used to hang out in my house all the time cause we were neighbors so I became friends with him too. Then school started, he’s younger than me and older than Mikey so we were never in the same grade but small town shit, we all went to the same school so we used to still see each other all the time.” Gerard wasn’t looking at Frank directly, he would glance at him but he was pretty embarrassed about this story so he mostly kept looking at Cherry on his arms. “Anyways, Brendon never had problems at making friends, unlike me or Mikey or Ray. We were shy and weird. He was weird too but he was also charming and loud and people liked him. Everyone, even the assholes and as we grew up he would hang out with them more than he did with us. Most of the fuckers he used to hang out with were the ones that would pick on me all the time.”

“Oh… “ Frank was starting to understand where this was going. “Brendon too?”

“No, he never did. But he never did anything to stop them either. After a while we stopped talking altogether. Sometimes he would approach me for something and I would just ignore him. I couldn’t really deal with it.” Gerard said embarrassed. 

“So knowing Brendon he has no idea why you hate him.” Frank softened up. You could tell because everything about him changed, his face, his posture, even his tone. 

“I don’t think he does. I don’t think he knows he did something to me.” Gerard looked up at Frank now knowing he understood. “I know I should’ve said something but I was 16 and moody and I hated the world. I was also a little disappointed in Brendon because I thought he was one of us and never cared about popularity but obviously he did and I think I couldn’t accept it.”

Frank was relieved Gerard wasn’t a homophobe but still couldn’t help feeling like a little shit. He could relate to the story because he had been a weird kid in high school, even thou he wasn’t really picked on because everyone knew he would kick anyone’s ass, nobody really understood him except for Jamia. “I get it.” He told him. “And I feel like an asshole now. I’m sorry I assumed the worst.”

“No, Frank. You have nothing to be sorry about! You didn’t know. Why would you? You were right to be mad at me I was being a jerk.” Gerard felt horrible but at least Frank understood him and it seemed he didn’t hate him anymore. 

“Well… we were both wrong. How about that?” 

“Okay…” Gerard finally smiled to Frank and agreed. “So, can you forgive me? Can I look after the twins tonight?” as he said this Cherry hold on to him in case Frank said no and she had to fight with her life for Gerard.

“Of course I forgive you. And… I don’t think you’ll be able to leave.” Frank looked at Cherry who was looking at him with fire in her eyes. “He is not going anywhere, relax woman.” 

Frank and Gerard laughed and after that Frank proceeded to finish getting ready. About half an hour later he was out the door with Brendon and Gerard was left behind with the twins. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frank came back from his date fairly early but still, he found everyone asleep in his house. Lily was in the bedroom sleeping on the cradle and Frank figured she must have fallen asleep first and pretty early. Lily wasn’t hard to put to bed, she would usually fall asleep on her own unlike her sister who would make Frank cry before falling asleep. As for Gerard, he was sleeping on a chair with Cherry also asleep on his arms. The small TV on the kitchen was on with some superhero cartoons and on the table, there were a lot of drawings in papers. Most of them were nonsensical doodles from the twins and Gerard made sure to put their name on each one of their drawings. Frank also noticed Gerard was working on a drawing of his own which consisted on a castle with a princess with tiara and everything but with trousers and a sword and an ogre’s head on her hand. And there was another princess, this one in a dress but she was riding a flying dragon. And of course Frank thought that was the coolest shit he’s ever seen. 

Gerard woke up as he felt Frank’s presence. “Oh… hey. Sorry, I fell asleep.” 

“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Frank got close to him to caress Cherry’s hair and give her a little kiss.

“Don’t worry about it. So? How did it go?” Gerard asked almost whispering, trying not to wake up Cherry and as Frank stopped kissing her he stood up to put her down next to Lily in the bedroom.

“Not great…” Frank emptied his pockets with keys, wallet and phone on the kitchen table and sat down. He looked a little sad, Gerard could tell and he came back out from the bedroom and sat next to him on the round table. 

“Oh... was it because of what I told you?” He asked starting to feel guilty because, yes he didn’t want the date to go well but he didn’t want Frank feeling bad about it.

“No, nothing like that.” Frank shook his head and incorporated himself on the chair as he noticed he might look depressed or something and he really wasn’t. It was something else and different on his mind but sadness wasn’t exactly it. “I had fun but I kept wanting to call _you_ to see if everything was okay, even though I _knew_ everything was okay. Brendon was great, he’s hilarious but… I mean, we kissed for a while? But I didn’t feel anything, there was nothing there. Luckily he felt the same, he even said it was like kissing a cousin and not the hot one you haven’t seen in a while and is not really related to you. I felt like I was missing a story there.” 

Gerard laughed and thought that would’ve been so Brendon. “Shit, I’m sorry Frank.”

“No you’re not.” He narrowed his eyes and then laughed. “You don’t have to be anyway. I noticed that I don’t think I want to date, not now at least. I really just wanted to come back here and be with the girls and _hang out with you_ and eat pizza and watch shitty horror movies. I don’t know. I was thinking about how I don’t feel 19 anymore which should be sad but… I don’t feel sad. I love the girls, they are my world and I could never be bored. And even if I am, I have you.” Frank had been looking at his hands while reflecting on his night out and as he said the last part he went back to look at Gerard. “I mean, I do right? We’re okay?”

“Of course we are. And hey, pizza and horror movies? I’m more than okay with that forever.” Gerard went on a touched Frank’s knee in a friendly way but he felt weird about it so he retrieved his hand quickly.  
Frank noticed it but didn’t say anything and a question crawled into his mind. “Hey, so… are you okay with me… you know, liking guys and shit?” He asked kind of knowing the answer by now but he wanted to be sure.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course I am. Look I didn’t even stop to think how was it possible that you had kids with a girl and were going out with a guy now, that’s how natural it is in my mind. Don’t worry about it.”

Frank nodded and felt relived. For a second he wanted to ask him if he wasn’t worried he would like him. He didn’t know why he wanted to know that but he did. Still he didn’t ask it because he was also kind of afraid of the answer. “You should talk to Brendon though. I think it’ll be good for you.” He insisted instead.

“Yeah, I know. I will.” Gerard replayed as he had done before but now with the confidence that he will in fact do it because he knew he could damage his friendship with Frank if he didn’t. 

They moved on to talk about other things like the drawings and how Frank was absolutely framing that castle with the princesses and putting it over the twins cradle to which Gerard blushed furiously and Frank laughed in his face for it and then move on to Frank complaining his drawing was shit and proving it and Gerard laughing saying his style had personality which was more than okay. Time passed and the things they could talk about never run out, no matter how tired they were and Frank noticed that didn’t happen to him with anyone since Jamia. 

But what did that mean?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What are your thoughts on this one?  
> I'm sorry I took so long to update but Helena is very busy so I decided to upload anyways. I'll edit it once she takes a look.  
> Comment cause you didn't in the previous chapter? :)  
> xoNa


	8. Not all heroes wear capes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some are assholes and wear leather jackets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't the chapter I wanted to write but I kinda think it's hilarious. Also, kinda spoilery but I bullshit my way through all the medical things here. Pretend they make sense.  
> Remember I don't have a beta so there might be mistakes in this that I can't tell I'm doing.

|It was a pretty busy day at the diner and Gerard was back working at it full time, a little less grumpy than usual which made Ray tease him from time to time because he knew that mending things with Frank was what got him in a good mood. 

During that day and in spite of it being a busy one, he had, a few times, glanced outside and saw Frank coming and going through town, mostly rushing and always with his hands full apart from the twins’ stroller. It had to be some kind trick or optical illusion because Gerard didn’t think it was possible to be carrying that many things and babies at once but Frank seemed to manage. 

After the, probably, fifth trip but Gerard could’ve miscounted or missed a time, Frank finally went inside the diner and slump into a chair with the twins’ stroller next to him. He took an empty coffee mug from the table in front of him to catch Gerard’s attention with a groan.

“Well hello to you too.” Gerard approached him, hands resting on his own waist, but it was Ray who filled his cup because he had just finished a fresh pot. 

“Hey Frank!” Ray greeted and waved to the twins. Lily waved back because she liked Ray, she honestly liked everyone and always waved back at people but Cherry on the other hand was already fumbling towards Gerard and no one else existed anymore for her.

Frank simply sipped his coffee once. Then twice, then three times and by the sixth one he finally looked up from his cup. “Hi. Sorry.” He managed.

“ ‘S okay.”Gerard said almost laughing. “Busy day huh?”

“I’m getting the roof of the living room fixed.” Frank explained. “I really need a living room or someplace other than the kitchen. It’s driving me crazy but I don’t wanna die under that roof so…” He sipped coffee again. 

“That’s smart.” Gerard crouched down in front of the twins to play with them while listening to Frank. He mouthed a ‘hi’ accompanied with a big smile on his face. “When do they start working?”

“Tomorrow, hopefully, if I bought everything they asked for.”

“Can I do something?” Gerard looked up from the twins to Frank. He knew he didn’t know the first thing about fixing a roof… or pretty much anything at all but he thought he was creative enough to come up with solutions if Frank needed them and where was the harm in offering?

“Lend me a million bucks and never ask me to return them.” Frank said in all seriousness because he thought that at this point he wasn’t proud enough to say no to them if anyone offered. 

“Sorry?” Gerard replayed apologetically.

“It was a long shot.” Frank shrugged and sipped on his coffee a little more, then added as he suddenly remembered. “Maybe you can help me clean up and paint the damn place?” 

“I could do that.” Gerard stood up again because he is an old man goddamn it and his knees hurt. Of course Cherry complained at this. 

“Honey, leave them man alone for five seconds.” Frank said to Cherry pointlessly because of course Gerard was already picking her up. “You’re spoiling her!”

“She has to hate someone; you seem like the best and closest choice over me.” He shrugged.

“Asshole.” Frank laughed because hell, that was a clever come back and he had missed Gerard a lot the past week while things were awkward between them and he was stupidly happy that they were okay again. You could totally tell this by the way he was hiding a big dorky smile behind his cup of coffee but it was no use because even Ray could totally tell he was smiling even from behind the counter at the other side of the diner. Gerard on the other hand was now focused on Cherry and didn’t notice Frank beaming behind his mug. 

“Are you heading to work now?” he asked without looking at Frank and Frank focused on the question rather than his thoughts. 

“No. I’m giving classes in the morning tomorrow so I can show the house around today. Gladys was a total sweetheart about it and gave me the keys to the studio for tomorrow morning and my guys agreed to come in after the blood pressure and cholesterol pills.” Frank joked because most if not all the people he was teaching how to play guitar were at least 60 years old but in spite of that he loved them all, really. “They’re my people, ya’ know? I think I have the soul of an 80 year-old guy. There’s actually this one guy, so cool, Peter. He looks like a fucking rock star and is learning how to play guitar to jam with his daughter. Man, he is a natural, like you should see him Gee, he should’ve been a musician.” Frank was ranting when he felt a tug on the sleeve of his hoodie from Lily on the stroller next to him. He stopped talking and looked at her and she made a sound, kinda like words but not really and still Frank knew she meant she was thirsty and tired. “Yeah, okay honey.” He told her and kissed her forehead. “Anyways” Frank turned to Gerard again who was actually really paying attention to all this very carefully and still had no idea what Lily wanted. “I’ll tell you all about Peter later. We’re gonna go now.”

Gerard nodded and put Cherry down on the stroller next to Lily and she gave her sister a murderous look because they were leaving. Lily, of course, ignored her.

“Frank’s coffee is on me!” Ray called from behind the bar, putting some money on the register.

“Thanks Ray!” Frank replayed getting the girls ready to hit the way back home, then they said their goodbyes and left the diner.

~ 

“I’m telling you, their new stuff‘s shit. Not worth it at all.” The next day found Ray ranting about a band Gerard had never heard of while they were working. Ray was trying to convince Gerard to listen to their early work because. Ray’s passion for music had him always talking about bands no one ever heard of and Gerard really liked discovering new bands so he always listened whenever Ray had something to say about one. 

Ray was talking to Gerard from the kitchen while Gerard was making a fresh pot of coffee because it was something that was always needed at the diner and one of them was always making one. 

“Bring me a couple of CDs tomorrow, old stuff and new stuff and I’ll tell you my verdict.” Gerard was speaking to Ray with his back to the door of the diner but he turned around when he finished that sentence because he heard the little bell on the door make a sound that meant someone was coming in. 

What Gerard saw was Frank, in panic, rushing inside with Lily on his arms and Cherry on the stroller. He quickly walked around to catch up with him and before he could ask Frank said, almost crying “Lily’s not breathing well” his voice was broken and Gerard thought Frank had never looked so small and young before “I’m taking her to the hospital. Please… Can…”

“ _Go!_ ” Gerard said before Frank could ask and Frank rushed out of the diner leaving Cherry with him.

Gerard looked down at the little girl who looked frightened and like she was about to cry so he picked her up and hugged her. “Shh…” He rocked her. “Everything’s gonna be fine.” He turned around and saw Ray standing at the kitchen’s door looking at him in shock. “I…” Gerard started saying but he didn’t know what he really wanted to say. He was so scared that words escaped him; he couldn’t bring himself to form a sentence and felt like a tornado just hit him. 

“You want to go.” Luckily, Ray found the words for him. “I’ll close, take Cherry upstairs.” he said because he could see that the girl was scared and needed proper attention but Cherry wasn’t on board with this plan. She tightened her grip on Gerard’s neck and started weeping. Gerard had never heard her cry before and felt his heart break as soon as he heard her. 

“I can’t leave her.” Gerard said without knowing what to do when he heard a voice coming from behind him.

“ _I’ll drive you._ ” 

Gerard turned around and saw, to his surprise, that the voice was coming from _Brendon_ who was getting up from his chair and putting on his leather jacket as quickly as he could and grabbing his car keys from its pockets. He didn’t wait for Gerard to answer him and opened the door of the diner. Gerard gave Ray a final look, to which Ray just nodded, before following Brendon to his car. A minute later he was on the back seat still hugging Cherry and they were on their way to the hospital. 

The ride wasn’t long but it was painfully silent except for the little sobs Gerard heard on his ear from Cherry. He really didn’t know what to say to Brendon but this time it was just because he was scared out of his mind to even put letters together to form a word or even a sentence. He glanced a few times at the front mirror and Brendon had his jaw clenched and Gerard knew he wasn’t in silence because of him either but because he was scared too. 

A few minutes later they arrived at the emergency room and before they could ask for Frank they heard him screaming and terrorizing a male nurse about two times his size who looked scared as shit. They were by a hospital bed where Lily was lying down with an oxygen mask on her little face. 

The woman from the front desk tried to stop them but it was no use, Gerard walked right in and Brendon behind him waved at the poor woman trying to do her job. 

“I swear I was a sadistic mass murderer in my previous life and I’m not afraid to put those skills to use.” Frank was saying in the nurse’s face but before continuing screaming at the poor guy, he saw Gerard approaching them from the corner of his eyes so he turned to him. “This _asshole_ is asking for my social security number while my daughter can’t breathe!” He screamed at Gerard before he could ask what was happening.

“Do you know it?” Gerard asked with Cherry still on his arms who was hiding his face away and he could feel her trembling.

“Of course I don’t fucking know it. I have it at home somewhere!” 

“Give me your phone.” Frank heard said to him and saw Brendon coming towards him from behind Gerard. In spite of his confusion because he didn’t know what the fuck was Brendon doing there, he handed his phone to the guy because he was actually too busy planning on how to kill an entire hospital staff if Lily wasn’t checked out soon to ask how was he there so Brendon walked away. 

“ _Meanwhile…_ ” Frank continued screaming. “there isn’t a single doctor in this godforsaken hospital of hell!”

“Okay… calm down? For a second? Tell me what happened.” Gerard asked in a calm tone so Frank would imitate him.

“The girl had an allergic reaction.” The nurse started explaining before Frank could say anything. “The doctor is coming, she’ll be here any second now. Meanwhile, we have the little girl stable and breathing. They literally just got here a minute before you did. We’re working as fast as humanly possible.” 

Gerard nodded to the nurse and made Frank turn to him and face him. “Frank… you need to calm down now. Cherry and Lily are scared and if you’re agitated they’re gonna think something’s wrong.” He tried his best to reason with him since Frank wasn’t thinking clearly. Of course it was useless really.

“But there _is_ something wrong!” Frank screamed one more time throwing his hands up in the air which scared Cherry even more and she finally broke down and started crying. Frank stopped and calmed down instantly. “No… honey, I’m so sorry…” He picked her up from Gerard’s arms and hugged her. “Look, your sister’s gonna be fine.” He pointed at Lily and walked towards her bed. Frank sat Cherry down next to her sister and she looked at her for a second before hugging her and stopped crying. Lily couldn’t do much so she just closed her eyes and let herself be hugged. Then, Cherry let her go and turned to Frank again so he picked her up. “See? She’s okay, we’re okay.”

Brendon came back and gave Frank’s phone to Gerard. “I can fill in the paper work.” He told the nurse who nodded and handed it to him. 

“If you’re all gonna stay here I need you to be quiet.” The nurse told them. “I’ll be back with the doctor in a few minutes.” He left them and closed the little curtain around the bed

Brendon picked outside and stole a few chairs for them to sit. The three men were coming down from a rush and were in silence for a while as they sat down. Frank was hugging Cherry tight as he went over everything that just happened in his head. He had never felt more scared or alone or small in his entire life. Not even those times when he was a kid and always sick and watched his mom sleep on a chair every night next to his bed. No, this was something different. This was the most overwhelming fear he had ever felt and not even losing his own life scared him this much. The twins were more important than his stupid life. 

He almost started crying when he felt a hand on his knee so he looked up and saw Gerard with worry in his eyes looking at him like he was a wounded puppy. He probably looked like a wounded puppy too. 

“Are you okay?” Gerard asked him he knew it was a stupid question because of course he wasn’t okay but he had to say something. 

“I’m sorry… I… I lost it.” Frank apologized seeing how crazy he must have looked.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” 

“How the hell did you get here so fast anyway? I thought we were gonna catch you on our way here.” Frank was about to throw himself into Gerard’s arms for a hug but he heard Brendon voice and suddenly remembered he was there and wondered how or why.

“What the fuck are you doing here? And how did you get my info?” Frank countered ask Brendon. 

“I called your mom asshole.” Brendon answered as he was filling a form, looking down. “Also, I asked first, how did you get here?” 

“Oh…” Frank looked away from both Gerard and Brendon because he wasn’t proud about this. “umm… I got a lift.” He lied poorly.

“Bullshit.” Brendon called without even looking up.

“Fine, I threw myself in front of a car and told the woman that was driving that if she didn’t take me to the hospital I would fuck her up and steal her car.” Frank finally admitted with a roll of his eyes.

“Nice.” Brendon nodded in approval.

“Your turn.” Frank wanted to know now. 

“Oh… um I was at the diner when you busted in and I had my car parked just outside. Gerard wanted to come but Cherry was too scared to leave her with Ray so I drove them here.” Brendon explained. “I mean, he’s an idiot but he’s also a grown up I guess so he didn’t say no or anything.”

“Jeez, thanks Brendon.” Gerard answered defensively.

“Don’t fucking start you two.” Frank was about to lecture them but the curtain opened and the doctor came inside. She had shoulder length dark hair and red lips. She wasn’t too tall and she was honestly gorgeous. 

“Hi! I’m doctor Mills.” She said with a big smile and walked past Brendon who was on the opposite side of the bed in front of Frank and Gerard. Frank stood up and passed Cherry to Gerard as normally as if Cherry was also his and Gerard stood up too. “Are you two the dads?”

“No, I am.” Frank answered and Gerard blushed furiously.

“Oh, I’m sorry… the nurse thought…” Dr. Mills looked at Frank, then at Gerard, and then shook her head. “ummm, never mind.” She turned to Lily with her stethoscope. “Hi gorgeous.” She said as she rubbed the metallic end on her clothes. “I hear you’re not feeling okay. Now, this may be a bit cold but it’ll be just a second.” 

She checked on Lily’s breathing and made some other tests as Frank watched in panic but Lily seemed calm with the woman.

“Did she eat anything out of the ordinary or is there something you think might have caused the allergic reaction? And I’m going to ask you to hold her for a minute while I give her an injection so she doesn’t get scared.” 

“Ugh fuck.”Gerard turned around. “I’ll be outside.” He opened the curtain and stepped out.

“Your boyfriend isn’t as brave as you are.” Dr. Mills said joking as she continued checking on Lily. Both the doctor and Frank heard Brendon snort from behind them. 

“He’s not… we’re not together, he’s just a friend.” Frank answered and mouthed a ‘fuck you’ to Brendon.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I just assumed… since he’s so good with the other girl. Oh just ignore me dear.” 

“It’s okay…” Frank was starting to notice a weird pattern people had when they saw him and Gerard together but put those thoughts aside. “And so um… to answer your question, she didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary but I’ve just started construction in my house. There’s sawdust everywhere. Could that be it?”

“Definitely but I’m going to run some allergy tests anyway just to be safe. It’ll take a minute and you can come back and pick up the results later and I’ll take a look at them.” She said as she wrote something down on her notes pad. “You’ll have to keep her out of the house until the work is done.”

Dr. Mills explained a few more things to Frank so Brendon slipped out to give them some privacy, showing Frank the paper work as if to say he was going to hand that in. He walked out into the hallway and did in fact hand the paper work to the nurse they were bothering earlier without much more of a nod and walked towards Gerard who was leaning on a wall of the hall near the exit. 

“Hey Gerard. Listen…” Brendon began saying, feeling apologetic because, yes as everyone knew, even himself, he was kind of an asshole and knew he was being one just a moment ago while telling Frank how they got there. “Man, sorry about before. I was being an asshole out of habit I guess. I shouldda kept my pie hole shut, it wasn’t the time.” He said. Brendon kinda wanted to make things work with Gerard now that they had Frank in common. 

“You know how to apologize, that’s new.” Gerard said sarcastically because he obviously didn’t have the same thing in mind.

“Don’t be a little shit, I’m apologizing. It’s not like you haven’t been horrible to me for the past eight years.” Brendon bit back angrily and honestly a little right to be.

“Well the same could be said about you.” 

“Can you fucking tell me what’s this unforgivable thing I did to you that got your panties on a fucking twist? I have no fucking clue.”

“Of course you don’t. You have your head so far up your ass you shit with your mouth.” Gerard said and looked at Brendon whose face lit up so he frowned at him.

“Oh that was good. Can I use that?” Gerard rolled his eyes and started to walk away from him. Brendon also rolled his eyes and since his self esteem and narcissism is so high that insults don’t affect him, he followed Gerard. “Look, can we just be okay? I’m not trying to fuck Frank anymore if that’s what worried you so much.” 

Gerard turned on his heels so fast he had to hold Cherry tighter. “You’re such a dick!”

“Understatement.” Brendon shrugged. 

“I didn’t care about that!” Gerard exclaimed and Brendon rolled his eyes again. “ _I didn’t_!”

“Then what is it? Is it about high school?” As soon as Brendon said this Gerard took a step back and looked away because he heard how stupid it all sounded. “Look, yeah I was a shitty teenager, hell I’m a little shit right now. Some things you don’t out grow; whatever. I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry. Can we put it behind? I promise I’m gonna be less of a little shit if you’re gonna get so _sensitive_ about it.”

“Jesus, you’re insufferable.” 

“I’m a sweetheart, shut up.” Brendon bumped his shoulder to Gerard’s and Gerard gave him a hateful look.

“Are you gonna stop busting my balls if I say we’re okay?” Gerard finally gave up.

“Yeah, probably.” Brendon shrugged. 

“Fine, we’re okay then.” 

Brendon was about to lunch towards Gerard to give him a hug mostly to piss him off even more but heard Frank coming towards them.

“Are you two done bitching like 14 year olds? We can go now.” He came up to them with Lily on his arms a little sleepy. 

“Is she okay?” Gerard asked. 

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. I gotta figure out what the fuck I’m going to do now. I guess I’m gonna have to go to my mom’s” The three men started to walk out of the hospital and towards Brendon’s car.

“Why?” Gerard asked because he missed half of the conversation Frank had with the doctor. 

“Apparently what caused the allergic reaction was the sawdust from the construction. She can’t be home for a couple of days.” Frank filled him in.

“I could take her. I mean… is it weird? I don’t know. I totally can though if you want to? You won’t have to be away or miss work and you can come over all you want.” Gerard offered. He thought it was a weird offering because he wasn’t related to them and felt that it was something maybe family would do and didn’t know if Frank felt that way about him but he felt it was only right to suggest it because it was actually pretty convenient for Frank and he wanted him to know that… well he was there for him like family would.

“Gerard… wow… I mean, that would be amazing. Isn’t it too much work? I don’t know. I don’t wanna impose.”Frank felt extremely guilty of wanting to say yes to this but it would actually be so easy for him and he wouldn’t be away from Lily for long. 

“Nonsense. I would really love to help you out Frank.” Gerard said with a smile.

They were both standing by Brendon’s car looking into each other’s eyes with the twins in their arms and for a few seconds they didn’t say anything, just smiled at each other for different reasons. Frank, for once, was happy to have Gerard in his life because he felt less alone and helpless. Gerard felt something similar. His life wasn’t so empty anymore and he felt useful and with purpose, something he wasn’t finding in any other aspect of his life. 

“Can you two stop making eyes at each other or you want me to leave you here?” Brendon interrupted them from inside the car. 

“Seriously, how did you even consider for a second dating this asshole?” Gerard said to Frank as he opened the car’s door to let Frank in.

“I don’t know, he’s kinda hot.” Frank shrugged. 

“ _Kinda?_ Kinda hot? You should be thankful you have babies cause I would drop your ass right here. I’m very hot thank you very much.” Brendon said turning around to look at them both sitting on his back seat. “Also wasn’t that doctor chick really hot too?”

“Shut up and drive would you?” Gerard grunted at him.

“You bet your gay ass she was gorgeous.” Brendon mumbled and started their way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I love Brendon?
> 
> If you read "Dr. Mills" and thought about Regina from Once upon a time then you were right, it's totally her and I'm actually borrowing the character from my friend Sophie's fic "An Apple a day."  
> Also shout out to Peter Capaldi for being so awsome and also letting Frank teach him some guitar. Cause, you know, he didn't used to be in a band or whatever.  
> And lastly the anecdote about Frank throwing himself in front of a car comes from my dad that actually did that once when I was about two years old and I was running a very high fever and he didn't have a car to take me to the hospital. 
> 
> Comment maybe?  
> Oh and you can totally come bust my balls so I update at my various social media accounts TW and IG: heyholtzy Tumblr: /hey_holtzy  
> xoNa~ 
> 
> PS: I'm sorry if this is a bad chapter.


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